Sense of Coherence, Values, Youth Involvement, Civic Efficacy and Hope: Adolescents During Social Protest

The aim of this study is to explore values, sense of coherence (SOC) as well as civic engagement, civic efficacy and hope among adolescents against the background of a social protest. We examined if a set of values and SOC explain civic engagement and civic efficacy. Furthermore, all of these variables were examined as explanatory factors of positive development examined by hope. Data were gathered among 400 adolescents aged 16–18 during a social protest. Adolescents filled out self-reported questionnaires which included socio-demographics characteristics; values, SOC, the youth social responsibility scale, civic efficacy and hope. Results show that all values and SOC explained civic engagement, while only universal and collective in-group values as well as civic engagement directly explained citizens’ efficacy. The model explained hope with 43 % of the variance. I discuss the direct and indirect relationship among the different variables and explain them in accord with positive development among youth.