Explaining political and civic long-term engagement: Do group-based activities make a difference?

This study is comparative and explanatory in nature, investigating whether different types of participation (formal political par- ticipation, legal activism, and civic engage- ment) are differentiated from one another by a set of psychosocial variables (organisa- tional commitment, perceived social sup- port, stress and coping mechanisms, and or- ganisational variables). We also investigate whether these variables can predict the long-term engagement of those involved in political and civic organisations, as research on collective action, community participa- tion, and volunteerism suggests. A survey was conducted on 517 members of a variety of political and volunteer organisations. The results showed a polarisation both between the political and civic forms of engagement and within the two political forms of partic- ipation considered. In addition, it was found that the factors predicting the long-term engagement of the individuals differed significantly among the three types of par- ticipation.