Ongoing Research Projects
The Young Adult Community Experiences (YACE) Study
The Montana PYD Lab is planning a study that will investigate community experiences, emotional responding, and civic intentions among MSU college students. Students will complete short surveys every night for one week at the beginning of the semester, followed by two additional surveys at the middle and end of the semester. More information regarding this study will be made available soon.
Youths’ Civic Network Study
The Montana PYD Study is planning a study to better understand the role of peers in promoting youth civic engagement. This study will involve partnering with a local high school to document youths’ “civic networks” – friendship networks characterized by varying degrees of civic engagement –and understanding the implications of these networks for future civic engaging. Stay tuned for more information!
Civic Development Across Emerging Adulthood
The transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood is marked by considerable variation in life-paths. Some youth may pursue higher education at a college or university, while others may enter in the labor market or serve in armed forces. This transition is also a time when many youth are granted rights that expand their civic opportunities (e.g., vote). This project focuses on understanding the antecedents and consequences of civic engagement across the transition to adulthood using secondary data the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study. The MTF study is an ongoing age-period-cohort study that has recruited separate cohorts of high school seniors every since 1976 and longitudinally assessed these youth into young adulthood. This project is part of a collaboration with colleagues at the University California, Los Angeles (UCLA).