Youth can play a central role in building stronger societies and yet their potential contribution in promoting social change remains relatively under-explored. The present research details two studies that focused on understanding the factors associated with different forms of youth constructive engagement in two divided societies. Study 1 examined the relationship between perceived school climate norms of equality, perspective-taking, civic engagement, and collective action intentions in support of refugees amongst youth in England (n = 620; aged 11-12; 273 White, 162 Black; 62 Asian 95 Mixed Race; evenly split by gender) through a cross-sectional survey. Bootstrapped mediation analysis found that perspective-taking mediated the link between perceived school climate norms of equality and both collective action and civic engagement. Study 2 involved a three-time point survey amongst youth in Northern Ireland (n = 420, Mage; T1 = 14.9 years) to determine whether intergroup contact with ethnic minority groups was associated with later reports on: (1) outgroup attitudes, (2) outgroup prosocial behaviour, and (3) civic engagement. Results demonstrated a lagged effect of higher quality contact on more positive attitudes towards ethnic minorities. There was also a lagged effect of more frequent contact on self-reported prosocial behaviour in support of ethnic minorities. No effects were observed for civic engagement. Collective findings give insights into the potential effects of school climate norms and intergroup contact on social change outcomes with implications for promoting constructive engagement amongst youth growing up in divided societies.
Keywords: Youth; Collective Action; Prosocial Behaviour; Civic Engagement; Intergroup Relations