Supported by a grant from the Tufts University Faculty Research Fund
Collaborators: Joseph Schwab, Ph.D., Bridgewater State University
There is considerable research on the prevalence and types of young people’s contribution behaviors (e.g., civic engagement, choosing public service careers, and volunteering), there is little research on the connection between young people’s contribution behaviors and the developmental experiences that they have as they transition from adolescence into adulthood. How do young people think about and consider contribution behaviors as part of their process of identity development? In turn, do the contribution activities, in which they engage, influence their identity development? In the ICON project, we are trying to understand young adults’ thinking about their identity development, contribution behaviors, and the intersection of the two. Another purpose of the research is to develop a theoretical model that can be tested in different, and larger, samples in future studies.
During the 2018 academic year, we conducted two sets of interviews with Tufts University students. We did three rounds of interviews with first-year students to see how their views may change during their first year of university. We also conducted one-time interviews with students in their third and fourth years. We are currently analyzing these data.