Bidirectional Associations Between Civic Engagement, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicidality in Youth: A Population-Based Study.

Abstract

Introduction: Civic engagement is common in youth, yet its longitudinal association with mental health remains understudied. This study aims to document bidirectional associations between civic engagement, depressive symptoms, and suicidality at 20 and 23.

Methods: We included 1451 participants born in 1997/98 from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development in Canada. At 20 and 23, youth self-reported their engagement in five types of civic activities, namely political engagement, volunteering, activism, charitable actions, community involvement, depressive symptoms, and suicidality. Cross-lagged path models adjusted for sex and parental socioeconomic status were used to test associations between civic engagement and mental health outcomes.

Results: Concurrently, individuals who engaged in political engagement and activism were more likely to experience increases in depressive symptoms and suicidality at 20, while those who engaged in volunteering tended to report fewer depressive symptoms. At 23, political engagement remained positively associated with depressive symptoms. Longitudinal analyses revealed that individuals who engaged in activism at 20 were more likely to experience increases in depressive symptoms over time (β = 0.17) and those who participated in charitable actions (β = -0.14) and volunteering (β = -0.11) at 20 tended to report fewer depressive symptoms at 23, though these associations were not independent. Mental health at 20 was not associated to later civic engagement.

Conclusions: Types of civic engagement were differentially associated with later depressive symptoms, but not suicidality. Further research is needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying these associations, including the potential role of engagement frequencies, motivations, and contextual factors.