The COVID-19 pandemic has had wide-ranging impacts on college-going emerging adults and their communities, which may prompt them to engage civically. Using spring 2020 survey data from a national sample of college students aged 18–22 ( N = 707), we document the prevalence of pandemic-related civic engagement as well as differences in engagement by sociopolitical perspectives. The majority of participants (70.4%) reported engaging civically at least once, most commonly online (e.g., sharing information about COVID-19 on social media, volunteering virtually). Results showed differences in civic engagement by communal orientation and the candidate participants intended to vote for in the 2020 presidential election, but not by political party affiliation. Qualitative data provide insight into different motivations for pandemic-related civic engagement. We conclude that emerging adult college students’ pandemic-related civic engagement is partially motivated by their sociopolitical perspectives and discuss implications for future work examining emerging adult civic engagement more broadly.

中文翻译：

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早期成人大学生流行病相关公民参与的社会政治影响

COVID-19 大流行对正在上大学的新兴成年人及其社区产生了广泛的影响，这可能促使他们进行公民参与。我们使用来自全国 18-22 岁大学生样本（N = 707）的 2020 年春季调查数据，记录了与流行病相关的公民参与的普遍性以及社会政治观点的参与差异。大多数参与者 (70.4%) 报告至少一次公民参与，最常见的是在线参与（例如，在社交媒体上分享有关 COVID-19 的信息、虚拟志愿服务）。结果显示，在 2020 年总统选举中，公共方向和打算投票支持的候选人参与者在公民参与方面存在差异，但与政党归属无关。定性数据提供了对与流行病相关的公民参与的不同动机的洞察。