Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40818106›Full record

ArticleJournal of adolescence2025

Bidirectional Associations Between Civic Engagement, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicidality in Youth: A Population-Based Study.

Anthony Sciola, Erinn Acland, Frederick L Philippe, Tianna Loose, Massimiliano Orri, Francis Vergunst, Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, Natalie Castellanos-Ryan, Alain Girard, Victoria Talwar and 2 more

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In one paragraph

Article in Journal of adolescence, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Anthony SciolaDepartment of Educational and Counseling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Erinn AclandSchool of Psychoeducation, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-1550-9980
Frederick L PhilippeDepartment of Psychology, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Tianna LooseDepartment of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montreal School of Public Health, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Massimiliano OrriMcGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Francis VergunstDepartment of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Isabelle Ouellet-MorinSchool of Criminology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Natalie Castellanos-RyanSchool of Psychoeducation, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-7077-1340
Alain GirardResearch Unit on Children's Developmental Maladjustment, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Victoria TalwarDepartment of Educational and Counseling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Sylvana CôtéSchool of Public Health, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-7944-0647
Marie-Claude GeoffroyMcGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-8587-8378

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionCivic engagement is common in youth, yet its longitudinal association with mental health remains understudied. This study aims to document bidirectional associations between civic engagement, depressive symptoms, and suicidality at 20 and 23.

methodsWe included 1451 participants born in 1997/98 from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development in Canada. At 20 and 23, youth self-reported their engagement in five types of civic activities, namely political engagement, volunteering, activism, charitable actions, community involvement, depressive symptoms, and suicidality. Cross-lagged path models adjusted for sex and parental socioeconomic status were used to test associations between civic engagement and mental health outcomes.

resultsConcurrently, individuals who engaged in political engagement and activism were more likely to experience increases in depressive symptoms and suicidality at 20, while those who engaged in volunteering tended to report fewer depressive symptoms. At 23, political engagement remained positively associated with depressive symptoms. Longitudinal analyses revealed that individuals who engaged in activism at 20 were more likely to experience increases in depressive symptoms over time (β = 0.17) and those who participated in charitable actions (β = -0.14) and volunteering (β = -0.11) at 20 tended to report fewer depressive symptoms at 23, though these associations were not independent. Mental health at 20 was not associated to later civic engagement.

conclusionsTypes of civic engagement were differentially associated with later depressive symptoms, but not suicidality. Further research is needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying these associations, including the potential role of engagement frequencies, motivations, and contextual factors.

Indexed as

DepressionSuicidal IdeationSuicideAdolescentFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMalePoliticsQuebecVolunteersYoung Adultcivic engagementdepressionlongitudinalsuicidalityyouth

Identifiers

PMID40818106
PMCPMC12682244

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.