Engaging for change: the influence of civic engagement on at-risk Arab minority youth in Israel.

AIMS: This study examined how an organized civic engagement program affected socially excluded young Arab adults in Israel, who face systemic discrimination, political alienation, and socioeconomic disparities.

METHOD: The sample included 132 participants (M age = 20.40, SD = 2.04, 57% women) from the Meidad Enterprise-Social Engagement project. Using a longitudinal pre-post design with repeated MANOVA analyses, we assessed changes in civic attitudes, behaviors, and wellbeing. Additionally, K-means cluster analyses, with repeated-measures MANOVAs, measured civic engagement gains among subgroups based on baseline wellbeing, depression, and loneliness.

RESULTS

The results indicated significant gains in civic engagement attitudes, perceptions, and skills (μ 2 = 0.13), civic engagement behaviors (μ 2 = 0.09), and wellbeing (μ 2 = 0.08). Participants with higher self-reported depressive symptoms and loneliness, in addition to lower levels of self-worth, life satisfaction, meaning, and hope, demonstrated the most pronounced improvements over time.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest organized civic engagement could benefit marginalized minority youth, especially those with moderate psychopathology and low wellbeing.