Resilient Self, Friends, and Nation: What Helps Filipino Youth Become Civically Engaged?
Article information
Eda, R. J. N., Avelino, A. M., Millena, G. B., & Cleofas, J. V. (2025). Resilient self, friends, and nation: Multisystem resilience as facilitator of civic engagement among Filipino youth. Child & Youth Services, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/0145935x.2025.2469684
What this study is about
Civic engagement is part of healthy youth development. It includes joining organizations, volunteering, speaking up about social issues, signing petitions, joining public discussions, supporting ethical causes, or taking local action for global concerns. For young people, civic engagement can help build identity, social responsibility, moral development, and connection to community.
This study asks: What kinds of resilience help Filipino youth become more civically engaged?
The authors used the Multisystem Model of Resilience, which says that resilience does not come from only one place. It can come from:
- the self — personal agency, confidence, and ability to solve problems;
- relationships — support from family and friends; and
- society — national solidarity, social justice, institutional trust, and shared identity.
In simple terms, the study does not ask whether youth are “resilient” in general. It asks: Which sources of resilience matter for civic engagement?
Why this matters
Young people today are facing many social problems: the aftereffects of COVID-19, climate change, inequality, disinformation, corruption, political cynicism, and distrust in institutions. These problems can discourage civic participation. But they can also motivate youth to act, organize, help, volunteer, and speak up.
In the Philippines, youth civic engagement is especially important because Republic Act 8044, or the Youth in Nation-Building Act, recognizes young people’s role in national development and civic life. But previous studies also show that some young Filipinos disengage because of distrust, limited resources, fear of activism being stigmatized, and political environments that may punish dissent.
This study helps explain what can support youth participation despite these barriers.
What the researchers did
The study used a cross-sectional online survey with 342 legal-aged Filipino youth aged 18–30. Data were collected during the first quarter of 2023 through Google Forms distributed via social media posts and direct messages. Most respondents were female, from low-income households, and not working; many were students.
The researchers measured four forms of resilience:
- Self-mastery — belief in one’s ability to solve problems, handle challenges, and achieve goals independently.
- Family-mastery — belief that one can solve problems and achieve goals with family support.
- Friends-mastery — belief that one can solve problems and achieve goals with support from friends.
- National resilience — the sense that one’s country has identity, solidarity, social justice, and trustworthy institutions.
They also measured three domains of civic engagement:
- Involvement in civic organizations — joining, volunteering, or working with groups for social causes.
- Political voice — speaking up publicly, signing petitions, joining discussions, or expressing views through media.
- Glocal civic activism — local actions connected to global issues, such as ethical buying or boycotting harmful brands.
What the study found
1) Filipino youth reported fairly high civic engagement intentions
The respondents reported high average scores for involvement in civic organizations and glocal civic activism, and a somewhat lower average for political voice. This means many young people were open to joining civic work and practicing ethical local-global action, but they were relatively more cautious about publicly expressing political views.
The article suggests that this lower political voice may reflect the Philippine political climate, where public dissent can feel risky. Even with social media and other platforms available, young people may hesitate to make political beliefs visible because of possible backlash, red-tagging, or other consequences.
2) Self-mastery predicted all three forms of civic engagement
The strongest and most consistent finding is that self-mastery matters. Young people who believed they could solve problems, face challenges, and pursue goals were more likely to report all three civic engagement intentions: joining civic organizations, using political voice, and engaging in glocal activism.
In everyday language: youth who feel capable are more likely to act.
This does not mean civic engagement is only about confidence. But it suggests that personal agency helps young people move from concern to participation. If a young person believes they can make decisions, solve problems, and influence outcomes, they may be more willing to take civic action.
3) Friends-mastery also predicted all three civic engagement domains
Friends-mastery was another consistent predictor. Young people who felt supported by friends were more likely to participate in civic organizations, speak up politically, and practice glocal activism.
This finding is important because youth civic life is often social. Friends can invite each other to volunteer, share petitions, discuss issues, organize events, attend rallies, join student groups, or participate in campaigns. Peer networks can make civic action feel less isolating and more doable.
In simple terms: friends can become civic infrastructure.
4) National resilience predicted civic organizations and political voice
National resilience predicted two domains: involvement in civic organizations and political voice. Youth who felt more positively about national identity, social justice, solidarity, and public institutions were more likely to imagine themselves joining civic groups and speaking up on issues.
This suggests that civic engagement is not only built from personal motivation. It is also shaped by how young people experience the nation. If the country feels socially cohesive, fair, and trustworthy, young people may feel that participation is meaningful.
5) National resilience did not predict glocal civic activism
Interestingly, national resilience did not significantly predict glocal civic activism in the regression model. This may be because glocal activism—such as boycotting or ethical consumption—depends more on personal values, peer influence, and economic capacity than on trust in national institutions.
The study also found that higher-income respondents were more likely to engage in glocal civic activism. This makes sense because ethical consumption often requires money. Buying local, sustainable, or ethically produced goods can be harder for young people with fewer resources.
6) Family-mastery was not a significant predictor in the final models
Family-mastery was positively correlated with civic engagement, but it did not remain a significant predictor after self-mastery, friends-mastery, national resilience, and demographic factors were considered.
This does not mean family is irrelevant. It means that, in this study, friends and self-belief were more direct predictors of youth civic engagement. This may reflect the developmental stage of young adulthood, when peers and personal agency become especially important in shaping public participation.
Bottom line
This study shows that Filipino youth civic engagement is supported by resilience across multiple systems. Young people are more likely to engage when they feel personally capable, supported by friends, and connected to a resilient national environment.
The key message is clear: to promote youth civic engagement, we must build resilient young people, resilient peer networks, and resilient democratic institutions.
Policy/practice recommendations
- Build self-mastery through youth programs
Schools, NGOs, and youth organizations can teach goal-setting, problem-solving, emotional regulation, leadership, project management, and civic confidence. - Use peer networks as civic engagement channels
Since friends-mastery predicted all civic domains, programs should support peer-led campaigns, student organizations, youth clubs, and collaborative community projects. - Make civic engagement safer for young people
If political voice is lower because young people fear consequences, institutions should protect student expression, civic discussion, peaceful assembly, and youth advocacy. - Strengthen trust in public institutions
National resilience matters. Government agencies, schools, and civil society should work to rebuild youth trust through transparency, accountability, youth consultation, and visible responsiveness. - Reduce economic barriers to glocal activism
Ethical consumption and boycotting are not equally accessible. Programs can offer low-cost ways to practice glocal activism, such as community gardens, repair/reuse projects, local volunteering, and information campaigns. - Integrate civic engagement into education
Curricula can connect civic learning to actual community projects, advocacy campaigns, public problem-solving, and youth participation in local governance. - Do not reduce resilience to individual toughness
The study shows that resilience is multisystemic. Youth services should support the self, peer networks, and national civic environments—not only tell young people to “be resilient.”
Glossary of key terms
- Civic engagement — Participation in activities that respond to social, community, political, humanitarian, environmental, or global issues.
- Youth civic engagement — Civic participation among young people, including volunteering, joining groups, speaking up, organizing, donating, petitioning, protesting, and ethical consumption.
- Multisystem resilience — The idea that resilience comes from multiple systems, including the self, relationships, communities, institutions, and broader society.
- Multisystem Model of Resilience / MSMR — A framework that organizes resilience into intra-individual, interpersonal, and socio-ecological levels.
- Self-mastery — A young person’s belief that they can solve problems, overcome challenges, and achieve goals independently.
- Family-mastery — A young person’s belief that they can solve problems and achieve goals with support from family.
- Friends-mastery — A young person’s belief that they can solve problems and achieve goals with support from friends.
- National resilience — A person’s perception that the nation has identity, solidarity, social justice, institutional trust, and capacity to withstand crises.
- Involvement in civic organizations — Joining, volunteering, or working with groups that address social, humanitarian, environmental, or community problems.
- Political voice — Publicly expressing opinions, signing petitions, joining discussions, or speaking through media about civic or political issues.
- Glocal civic activism — Local action connected to global justice, such as buying ethically produced goods or boycotting harmful brands.
- Civic organization — A group working toward social, community, humanitarian, environmental, or political goals.
- Political cynicism — Distrust or negative attitudes toward political systems, leaders, or institutions.
- Red-tagging — Labeling individuals or groups as connected to communist or terrorist movements, often creating fear and discouraging public dissent.
- Ethical consumption — Buying or avoiding products based on social, environmental, labor, or justice concerns.
- Youth in Nation-Building Act / RA 8044 — A Philippine law recognizing and promoting young people’s role in national development and civic life.
- Cross-sectional study — A study that collects data at one point in time. It can identify associations but cannot prove cause and effect.
- Multiple regression — A statistical method used to identify which variables predict an outcome after accounting for other variables.
- Bootstrapping — A statistical technique that repeatedly resamples data to improve the stability of estimates.
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