Human Rights Attitude and Civic Engagement Behavior Among University Students
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Human Rights Attitude and Civic Engagement Behavior Among University Students Ilan Kwon 1 & Jaewon Lee 2 & Cristy E. Cummings 3 & Daria P. Shamrova 4 & Catherine A. Macomber 5 & Edita Milanović 6 & Amanda T. Woodward 1,7 & Anne K. Hughes 1,7
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Although civic engagement and human rights are critical values in social work education, few empirical studies have explored the association between civic engagement and human rights exposure and attitudes. This study aims to examine the relationship between the exposure to human rights information, human rights attitudes, normative beliefs, and civic engagement behaviors among university students. A total of 214 students at a public university in the Midwest of the United States responded to the study survey. Findings indicate that students with more exposure to human rights issues showed more civic engagement. This relationship between human rights exposure and civic engagement was mediated by students’ attitudes toward human rights, but not moderated by normative beliefs. In addition, students majoring in social work revealed higher civic engagement and more positive attitudes toward human rights issues than those in other disciplines. Keywords Human rights education . Civic engagement . Social work education . Attitudes and behaviors
Introduction Civic engagement, defined as a level of willingness to participate in community activities, is one of the primary goals of higher education in general, and especially of social work education in the USA (Doolittle and Faul 2013; Einfeld and Collins 2008). Higher education aims to heighten college students’ sense of responsibility to their communities (Egerton * Ilan Kwon [email protected] 1
Park University, 8700 NW River Park Dr., Parkville, MO 64152, USA
2
Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Michuhol-gu, Incheon 22212, South Korea
3
University of North Florida, Skinner-Jones Hall, 1 UNF Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA
4
Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount St, Wichita, KS 67260, USA
5
Saginaw Valley State University, 7400 Bay Rd., University Center, MI 48710, USA
6
Wayne State University, 5447 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
7
Michigan State University, 655 Auditorium Rd., East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
2002; Jacoby 2009). Similarly, one of the objectives of social work education is to enhance students’ commitment to social justice. Civic participation encourages individuals to address community needs, take part in political action aimed at the public good, and promote a better quality of life for individuals, groups, and communities (Rome and Hoechstetter 2010). Civic engagement develops with age and through different experiences (Bobek et al. 2009), making it a natural focus in higher educational settings. Flanagan and Levine (2010) argue that the diverse and rich resources at a college or university provide students with more opportunities to participate in university-community collaborative activities such as joining community groups, volunteering for community de
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