Youth participation in governance in China: The roles of perceived responsibility and political efficacy

Abstract

Youth participation in governance goes beyond the scope of positive youth development and involves young people engaging in real-world social governance. Drawing on a culturally sensitive review of policies related to youth participation, this study investigated the effect of subjective factors (i.e., perceived responsibility and political efficacy) on young adults' participation in governance in China. A subset of young adult (N = 2396) was extracted from the national 2019 Chinese Social Survey. Regression and mediation analyses found a positive association between their perceived responsibility and participation in governance, which was significantly mediated by their perceived political efficacy. Furthermore, conditional indirect effects were found when using education and generational status of the young adults as moderators. Education was found to alleviate the negative effect of perceived responsibility on political efficacy and its negative indirect effect on youth participation. These findings highlight the importance of policymakers, social workers, and other practitioners in developing and promoting evidence-based community programs that empower, encourage, and motivate young adults to recognize their individual responsibility and political efficacy in social governance.