Young people’s identity capital and social participation in the life of the local community

Abstract

The article contains a report from a study involving young people living in the Polish southern borderland. The research was designed as a comparative, longitudinal cohort study. Measurements of a given variable (declared identity behaviours) were carried out with the use of the same instrument, in a reproducible manner, at different times (in the school years 2003/2004 and 2016/2017) and on the same cohort. The results of these measurements, obtained in two separate measurement periods, indicate a similar value of youths’ identity capital and an increase of social participation in the life of the local community. The diagnosis is a prelude to the determination of compensating educational activities and identification of existing social instruments as regards their model and pattern.