Explaining Community Engagement among Latino Youth The Case of Sonoma County, 2003

1. Explaining Community Engagement among Latino YouthThe Case of Sonoma County, 2003 Prof. Carlos A. Benito & Prof. Francisco Vázquez Sonoma State University

2. Conceptual Framework Academic Performance Motivations ? Community Engagement Latino Condition Gender Socioeconomic Position US Civics Knowledge

3. ? A practical outlook Culture or Ethnicity ? Socioeconomic Position ? Latino Condition

4. Statistical Survey Juniors and Seniors Public High Schools Sonoma County 822 Observations Spring 2003 Spanish Surname

5. The Community Engagement Index is the simple average between the number of organizations that a student serves, and the time engaged in each organization Figure B-1 The Index is measured in a scale of zero to 100. Zero value represents no engagement at all, and 100 is the most extended and intense engagement.

6. Both, Latino and Non-Latino students have a lower rate of Community Engagement: both distributions are skewed toward the left, toward lower rates of participation. The average rate of participation, however, is smaller for Latino/a students, and the difference is statistically significant. Figure B-6

7. The following diagrams depicts what factors explain engagement, based on statistic regressions

8. Explaining Latino Community Engagement: Direct Effects In the following model the sign +indicates a direct or positive relationship with Community Engagement; the sign –indicates an inverse or negative relationship; and 0 indicates no relationship. Civics Knowledge Altruistic Motivation + + None Latino/a: Community Engagement + + G.P.A. That is, Community Engagement is not related to the Latino/a condition, when other factors are considered at the same time. Socioeconomic Position

9. La condition Latino/a, however, has an indirect effect on Community Engagement. Explaining Latino Community Engagement: Direct and Indirect Effects - Parents vote in political elections + + Civics Knowledge Altruistic Motivation Inner Work + + Parents Talk about Religious/moral Issues + + None Latino/a: Community Engagement + + + - G.P.A. Socioeconomic Position + - English

10. Variables were standardize, before estimating coefficients The magnitude of Beta coefficients indicates the relative importance of each explanatory variable. Some degree of Altruism, for example, is more important than Socioeconomic status Fig C-1 Explaining Community Engagement: Direct Effects of the Latino Condition R-squared = 0.225 Adj R-squared = 0.2196 Number observations = 823 Civics Knowledge Altruistic Motivation 0.097 (0.005) 0.370 (0.000) 0.043 (0.181) 0.883 Female Community Engagement 0.053 (0.154) Latino/a: 0.105 (0.005) 0.107 (0.002) Socioeconomic Position G.P.A. P-values are within parenthesis below Beta coefficients. They indicate significance—probability that a Beta coefficient is zero. For example, the probability that the Latino/a coefficient is zero, is large, 15.4%, while the probability that Socioeconomic position coefficient is zero, is almost 0.0%

11. Interventions to Improve Participation • The inference that the Latino condition by itself is not a direct determinant of community engagement is very important.

12. Its indirect effects, however, points toward identification of viable projects: • Engaging parents of Latino students in curricular and extracurricular activities • Educating teachers about Latino’s motivations and socioeconomic conditions. • Teaching English • Building on Latino propensity to engage in inner work.

13. Path Analysis Equations

14. Fig C-3 Indirect Effects of Latino Condition:Explaining Altruistic Motivation R-squared = 0.192 Adj R-squared = 0.184 Number observations = 811 Female Parents’ vote in political elections 0.146 (0.000) 0.102 (0.012) Parents’ volunteer in service organization 0.818 0.165 (0.000) Altruistic Motivation 0.012 (0.762) Latino/a 0.166 (0.000) Hope/Self Confidence 0.105 (0.03) Inner Work 0.067 (0.045) 0.152 (0.000) Communitarian Attitude Inspired by a teacher P-values are within parenthesis below beta coefficients.

15. Fig C-2 Indirect Effects of Latino Condition:Explaining Socioeconomic Position R-squared = 0.315 Adj R-squared = 0.312 Number observations = 826 Father born in Latin America -0.224 (0.002) 0.829 -0.148 (0.018) Latino/a: Socioeconomic Position Mother born in Latin America -0.214 (0.001) The previous model specified Community Engagement (the explained variable) as a function of motivation, socioeconomic position, civics, academic performance, sex, and Latino condition (explanatory variables. From here on we present models that explain motivation, socioeconomic position, civics knowledge, and academic performance P-values are within parenthesis below beta coefficients.

16. Fig C-4 Indirect Effects of Latino Condition:Explaining Civics Knowledge R-squared = 0.263 Adj R-squared = 0.257 Number observations = 813 Grade level Parents’ vote in political elections 0.217 (0.000) 0.178 ((0.000) 0.723 -0.073 (0.017) Female Civics Knowledge -0.125 (0.001) Latino/a: 0.077 (0.001) Parents’ talk about government and national issues 0.160 ((0.000) 0.070 ((0.066) G.P.A. Socioeconomic Position P-values are within parenthesis below beta coefficients.

17. Fig C-5 Indirect Effects of Latino Condition:Explaining Scholastic Achievement R-squared = 0.127 Adj R-squared = 0.120 Number observations = 807 Socioeconomic Position Female 0.157 (0.000) 0.154 (0.000) 0.938 -0.176 (0.000) Latino/a: G.P.A. 0.097 (0.004) Participate in Math & Science Club 0.072 (0.040) 0.064 (0.058) Participate in Organized Sports Teacher took an interest on me P-values are within parenthesis below beta coefficients.

18. Fig C- 6 Explaining Inner Work R-squared = 0.413 Adj R-squared = 0.408 Number observations = 810 Parents talk about religious and moral issues 0.183 (0.00) Parents Attend Religious Services 0.245 (0.000) 0. 769 0.141 (0.000) Inner Work Latino/a: -0090 (0.006) Socioeconomic Position 0.110 (0.001) 0.219 (0.000) Participate in religious Youth Groups Student Attends Religious Services This model explains Inner Work, which in one of the previous model was an explanatory variable of Motivation P-values are within parenthesis below beta coefficients.

19. Fig C-7 Parents’ Role Modeling, Students’ Attitudes & Status:Odds that it is the case of a Latino Student Logistic Regression: Pseudo R-squared = 0.382, Observations = 801 Parents talk about government & national issues Socioeconomic position 0.828 (0.004) 0.945 (0.000) Parents talk about religion & moral issues 1.280 (0.000) 0.664 (0.000) Parents vote in political elections Latino/a 1.060 (0.354) Parents volunteer in service organizations 1.190 (0.000) Parents attend religious services 0.957 (0.430) 1.016 (0.776) Self-confident Communitarian An odds ratio larger than one, indicates that it is likely to be the case of a Latino student. Odd ratio below one indicates that is not likely to be the case of a Latino student. P-values are within parenthesis, below odds ratios. Red color implies no statistical significance .