First Amendment principles are fragile, unless they have widespread public support. People form lasting views about civil liberties and other political issues in adolescence. They are influenced by many factors, including what they learn and experience in schools. Therefore, schools' treatment of the Constitution and the press is important for the…

In 1993, The Charles F. Kettering Foundation published "College Students Talk Politics," a national study conducted by the Harwood Group and based on focus groups on ten American campuses. The study found, among other things, that students considered politics "irrelevant" to their lives and saw little purpose in ever actively participating in the…

This fact sheet presents information on the frequency of volunteering, trends in volunteering, and the organizations for which young people volunteer, utilizing data from multiple sources. Unlike many surveys, it shows that volunteering rates among young people are generally higher than they are among adults 26 and older. Findings of the Civic and…

Political scientists and sociologists have long established significant differences in civic engagement between women and men. Utilizing data from the 2006 Civic and Political Health of the Nation Survey, and several other sources, new information is provided on the civic engagement of youth, confidence in government, and following public affairs…

A survey conducted by the Council for Excellence in Government and The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) reveals unprecedented information about the content and significance of civics and social studies classes today. Overall, the curriculum and message of history and social studies classes appear to be more…

This fact sheet discusses young people and political campaigning on the Internet. It explains how the Internet has become a powerful force in political campaigns. A survey released by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press on January 11, 2004 found that the Internet is gaining importance as a source of political news, especially for…

Volunteering rates among young people are generally higher than they are among adults 26 and older. However, measuring volunteer rates among all adults is a difficult task. In recent years, efforts at measuring volunteering have produced widely different estimates, largely because of the methods employed to measure volunteering. For example, the…

This fact sheet compares the numbers of 18-25 year-old immigrants by nativity status, gender, race, ethnicity, geographic distribution, country of origin, year of arrival, marital status, educational attainment, and assesses population trends from 1994-2006. These numbers are based on Current Population Survey data. An appendix presents: 2006 At a…

One reason to offer sports in school is to teach youth the values, skills, and habits that will make them more active, engaged, and responsible citizens. Past evidence on the civic effects of sports is mixed, but points to some potential positive civic effects. This fact sheet uses recent data from the 2002 National Youth Survey of Civic…

This year's elections follow a presidential election that witnessed the highest level of national youth voter participation in over a decade, and a voter turnout rate among 18 to 29 year olds of 47 percent, up 9 percentage points over 2000. This fact sheet reports the characteristics of young voters nationally, including estimates of the number of…

This fact sheet compares the numbers of 18-25 year-old residents and citizens by gender, race, ethnicity, geographic distribution, marital status, military status, unemployment, educational attainment, and assesses population trends from 1968-2006. It explores such demographic characteristics of young people using data from the March Annual…

There is a strong link in the United States between education and political and civic participation, though little data exists focusing on the large group of Americans who study in community colleges, either finishing their education with associates' degrees or moving on to bachelor's degree programs. This fact sheet uses one relatively recent…

A previous CIRCLE fact sheet showed that young people who attend or have attended college are generally more civically engaged than those who do not. In the present fact sheet, analysis was limited to college graduates from the graduating class of 2000, highlighting relationships between core civic engagement measures, on the one hand, and…

Previous research on differences in civic engagement between young people with some college experience and those without suggests that college attendance is positively associated with some measures of civic engagement. This Fact Sheet presents new evidence, but largely supporting the findings of other researchers, on the correlation between a wide…

In a recent survey sponsored jointly by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement and the Council for Excellence in Government, several questions regarding young people's attitudes towards civic education and community service requirements were asked. These included questions asking if students were favorable or…