Community service and political participation among college students

Abstract

Participation in politics, such as voting, protesting, and making campaign contributions, is typically explained as a directly or indirect function of demographic characteristics such as income, education, job status, and age. But when there is little or no variation in these variables--as is often the case for undergraduate students at a four-year residential college--other individual-level variables play a more prominent role, including interest in politics, ideological strength, and, notably, major field of study. Other key findings are the unexpected negative relationship between socioeconomic status and participation and lack of a clear effect of community service.