Table 2.

Overview of Studies Included in the Scoping Review of Literature

	Citation and Method	Description of Sample	Critical Consciousness Dimensions or Related Constructs	Wellbeing Outcomes	Context of Study	Findings: Supportive of Wellbeing	Findings: Impediments to Wellbeing
Adolescents (Ages 12–18) (n = 16)	Montague & Eiroa-Orosa (2018) Qualitative, Cross-Sectional	32 mixed gender adolescents in the United Kingdom	Activism	Socioemotional (themes: A place to go, Power in numbers, Skilling-up, and In it together)	One organization at 7 different schools	Activism supports socioemotional development (e.g., intrinsic motivation, efficacy) for youth not personally affected by the issue for which they are advocating
	Bowers et al., (2020) Quantitative, Cross-sectional	215 middle and high school mixed-gender, Black, Latinx, Asian, multiethnic, and other youth from predominantly low-income backgrounds in an urban area in the USA	Critical reflection (one critical consciousness dimension)	Positive Youth Development (5 C’s)	Organization: After school program	Critical reflection associated with global positive youth development and confidence for the full sample. Critical reflection also associated with global positive youth development and connection for older youth
	Tyler et al., (2019) Quantitative, Cross-sectional	515 mixed gender 6th-8th grade White and Black adolescents from low and middle income backgrounds in the USA	Critical reflection (one critical consciousness dimension). Specifically, critical socioeconomic reflection and critical racial reflection	Positive Youth Development (5 C’s)	11 different schools		Critical racial reflection and critical SES reflection were correlated with the 5 C’s for Black youth. Critical racial reflection and critical SES reflection were negatively associated with caring for middle income White youth and negatively associated with caring, connection, and character for low income White youth.
	Clonan-Roy et al., (2016) Qualitative, Longitudinal	Black and Latinx girls ages 12–18 in the USA (sample size not provided)	Critical consciousness (all three dimensions)	Positive Youth Development (5 C’s)	In and after school programming	Critical consciousness development plays an integral role in developing positive youth development competencies for Black and Latina girls.
	Godfrey et al., (2019a) Quantitative, Cross-sectional	448 seventh grade Black, Chinese, Dominican, Puerto Rican, and other youth of mixed SES status in the an urban area in the USA	Critical consciousness (all three dimensions)	Mental (depression and self-esteem)	Six school districts in one city	More critical motivation/sociopolitical control (and low critical analysis) associated with better mental health.	More critical reflection (and less critical motivation/sociopolitical control) associated with worser socioemotional wellbeing.
	Christens & Peterson (2012) Quantitative, Cross-sectional	629 high school mixed gender, predominantly Latinx, Black, and Asian youth from a predominantly low SES background in an urban area in the USA	Sociopolitical control (element of psychological empowerment theory)	Mental (self-esteem, depression, anxiety) and risk behaviors (alcohol and drug use, violent behaviors)	One school district	Sociopolitical control associated with better mental and socioemotional health; mediates the relationship between ecological supports and wellbeing.
	Ozer & Schotland (2011) Quantitative, Cross-Sectional	439 mixed gender predominantly adolescents of color (29% Chinese, 28% Latinx, 8% Black, 7% European American, 5% Filipino, 23% other) in an urban area in the USA	Four psychological empowerment subscales: sociopolitical skills, motivation to influence, participatory behavior, and perceived control	Mental (self-esteem) and socioemotional (self-efficacy, sense of community)	Schools and summer programs in one community	Each subscale positively associated with self-efficacy and self-esteem.
	Russell et al., (2009) Qualitative, Cross-sectional	15 mixed gender, mixed ethnicity/race (8 White, 3 Latinx, 3 Black, 1 Asian-American) adolescents with mixed sexual-orientations (details not disclosed) in the USA	Psychological empowerment theory	Socioemotional (Themes included: of feeling good about oneself, having a voice, and having control or agency)	One organization in different locations across state	Gay-Straight Alliance participation led to thematic finding of “feeling good about oneself” and to subtheme of building social support.
	Zimmerman et al., (1999) Mixed-methods, Longitudinal	172 Black adolescent boys from mixed socioeconomic backgrounds in an urban area in the USA	Sociopolitical control- empowerment theory	Mental(anxiety, depression, self-esteem)	One city	Sociopolitical control limited negative consequences of helplessness on mental health.
	Lardier et al., (2018) Quantitative, Cross Sectional	383 mixed gender, 25% Black 75% and Latinx adolescence in an urban area from predominantly low-income background in the USA	Sociopolitical control- psychological empowerment theory	Risk behaviors (perception of substance use risk)	One school district	Youth with higher psychological empowerment and ethnic identity had significantly higher scores on both wellbeing (perceived 30 day drug use) and community participation, neighborhood sense of community, and school importance.
	Lardier (2019) Quantitative, Cross-sectional	1480 mixed gender Black (37%) and Latinx (63%) adolescence from a predominantly low-income background in an urban area of the USA	Sociopolitical control- psychological empowerment theory	Risk behaviors (30 day substance use)	One school district	Sociopolitical control and ethnic identity mediated effects of community-based measures on reducing 30-day substance use; psychological empowerment mediated effect of ethnic identity on 30 day substance use.
	Lardier et al., (2020) Quantitative, Cross-Sectional	383 mixed gender, 25% Black 75% and Latinx adolescence in an urban area from predominantly low-income background in the USA	Intrapersonal and cognitive empowerment- psychological empowerment theory	Risk behaviors (30 day substance use)	One school district	Intrapersonal and cognitive empowerment associated with lower 30-day substance use; ethnic identity and community civic engagement mediated the relationship.
	Opara et al., (2020a) Quantitative, Cross-Sectional	340 Black adolescent girls from a predominantly low-income background in the US in an urban area in the USA	Sociopolitical control- Psychological empowerment theory	Risk behaviors (sexual risk behaviors)	One school district	30 day drug use mediated the negative relationship between sociopolitical control (and ethnic identity and social support) and sexual risk behaviors.
	Opara et al., (2020b) Quantitative, Cross-Sectional	830 Black (41%) and Latina (59%) girls from a predominantly low-income background in an urban area in the USA	Sociopolitical control- psychological empowerment theory	Risk behavior (30 day drug use)	One school district	Based on the determination of a 2 factor (leadership and policy control) sociopolitical control scale, scores of high leadership and low policy control were associated with lower levels of drug use.
	Peterson et al., (2011) Quantitative, Cross-sectional	865 mixed gender adolescents, predominantly of color (55% Latinx, 37% Black, 4% Asian, 4% White) from a predominantly low-income background in an urban area in the USA	Sociopolitical control- psychological empowerment theory	Risk behaviors (drug and alcohol use)	One school district	Based on a 2 factor (leadership and policy control) abbreviated sociopolitical control scale, higher policy control associated with less frequent substance use; leadership less associated with substance use.
	Godrey et al. (2019b) Quantitative, Longitudinal	257 early adolescents predominantly of color (55% Latinx, 18% Black, 11% Native American, 9% White, 7% other), predominantly low-income and predominantly immigrant-origin (14% first generation, 41% second generation) in an urban area in the USA	System Justification	Mental (self-esteem, internalizing behavior- depression, deviant behavior) and socioemotional (classroom behavioral regulation)	One middle school	System justification associated with decline in mental and socioemotional wellbeing over 2 years.
Adolescents and Young Adults (Ages 12–29) (n = 4)	Boehnke & Wong (2011) Quantitative, Longitudinal	1492 mixed-gender youth ages 8–20 from predominantly high socioeconomic backgrounds in Germany	Activism	Mental (macro worries and micro worries)	Social move- ment	Activist youth for the German peace movement of the 1980’s demonstrated better mental health trajectories between 1985 and 2006
	Fine et al., (2018) Mixed methods, Cross-sectional	5860 LGBTQ + adolescent and young adult youth ages 14–24; 58% transgender and gender diverse; 61% White and 39% Youth of Color in the USA/US territories	Activism	Mental Health (psychological distress and suicidal ideation) and Physical (self-rated health)	National	Activism (weakly) positively associated with better mental health, even when controlling for exposure to discrimination and bullying; interview data confirmed relationship.
	Frost et al., (2019) Quantitative, Cross-Sectional	5860 LGBTQ + adolescent and young adult youth ages 14–24; 58% transgender and gender diverse; 61% White, 19% multiracial, 16% Latinx, 12% Black, 9% Asian in the USA/US territories	Activism	Mental (psychological distress and suicidal ideation) and Physical (self-rated health)	National	Activism mediated relationship between economic precarity and fewer health problems more strongly for youth of color than White youth. Activism mediated the relationship between minority stress and fewer health problems for youth of color (not White youth) and was stronger for transgender and gender diverse youth than cisgender youth
	Sulé et al., (2021) Qualitative, Cross-Sectional	15 mixed gender Black adolescents and young adults from low and middle income backgrounds in the USA	Black critical consciousness (all dimensions)	Socioemotional (themes: unification; self-reclamation; agentic power	One organization	Black critical consciousness and use of Afro-centric values in organization helped youth build values of unification (shared identity), reclamation of self (self-love), and agentic power.
Young adults (Ages 18–29) (n = 9)	Ballard et al. (2019) Quantitative, Longitudinal	9,471 mixed-gender youth 12–18; 68% White, 15% Black, 10% Hispanic, 3% Asian, 2% other in the USA	Activism	Mental (depressive symptoms), physical (metabolic risk index, health behavior index), risk behaviors (risky health behavior index)	National		Activism is associated with an increase in risky health behaviors. Activism unrelated with other forms of health in adulthood.
	Ballard et al., (2020) Quantitative; cross-sectional	10,822 mixed gender college youth ages 18–25; 62% White; 14% Hispanic; 10% Black; 9% Asian; 5% other; 72% straight in the USA	Activism; expression political involvement	Mental (depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-esteem) and socioemotional (happiness, life satisfaction, sense of meaning)	National		Expressive and activism are negatively associated with wellbeing for White, Asian, Hawaiian/other race, and Hispanic youth; no significant relationship for Black youth.
	Chan et al., (2021) Quantitative; longitudinal	490 mixed-gender youth ages 18–29 who are 99% ethnically Han Chinese in Hong Kong	Activism	Mental (emotional: happiness, contentment; psychological: actualization of self-potential; social: sense of engagement & contribution to society)	Social move- ment	At the time of social movement participation, youth activists demonstrated better mental and socioemotional wellbeing.	One year later, youth activists demonstrated significant decline in mental and socioemotional wellbeing.
	Fernández et al. (2018) Qualitative, Cross-sectional	18 college women of color ages in an urban area in the USA	Activism using sociopolitical development theory	Socioemotional (4 themes: embodiments of difference, experiences with institutional racism, critical intellectualism, and healing)	One Predominantly White College	Activism helps students to heal from experiences as a student.	Activism causes stress and a need for a break.
	Hope et al., (2018) Quantitative, Longitudinal	504 mixed gender Black and Latinx predominantly first-generation college freshmen in the USA	Activism	Mental (stress, anxiety, depression)	Five predominantly White colleges/universities	Activism protects Latinx youth from negative effects of racial/ethnic discrimiatnion on mental health.	Activism exacerbates negative effects of racial/ethnic discrimination on mental health for Black youth.
	Klar & Kassar (2009) Quantitative Cross-sectional	344 mixed gender. predominantly White (83%) college students in the USA	Activism	Mental (basic psychological needs, positive/negative affect) and socioemotional (satisfaction with life, meaning of life, self-actualization, hope)	One college	Study One: Activism composite score positively associated with multiple wellbeing measures; conventional activism associated with 6 of 8 measures while high risk activism associated only with 1 (self actualization). Study Two: low-level brief activism weakly led to higher vitality; no other wellbeing indicators significantly affected.
	Vaccaro & Mena (2011) Qualitative, Cross-sectional	6 mixed gender (male, female, and genderqueer) Latinx, Black, Chinese American, and biracial college students (ages 18–21) who all identified as queer in the USA.	Activism	Mental and socioemotional (Themes: internal and external demands, desire for social support, limit-setting, self-care, and scaling back responsibilities)	One predominantly White college		Stresses of queer activists of color at a predominantly White college led to burnout, compassion fatigue, and suicidal ideation.
	Maker Castro et al. (2021) Quantitative Cross-sectional	707 mixed gender (61.0% women; 34.4% men; 4.7% transgender/gender diverse) college students ages 18–22 who were majority White (54.0%); 20.4% Asian/Pacific Islander, 9.1% Latinx, 5.2% Black, 1.1% Middle Eastern/North African, and 10.1% mixed race/ethnicity, and were of mixed socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and immigrant-origin status in the USA.	3 critical consciousness dimensions	Mental (anxiety) and socioemotional (hopefulness)	National	Hopefulness was associated with critical reflection for LGBQ + youth with higher levels of critical reflection.	Anxiety was associated with each critical consciousness dimension for full sample; yet no interactions between critical consciousness dimensions and sociodemographic groups were statistically significant. For Asian youth, mean and high levels of critical action were associated with less hopefulness.
	Wray-Lake et al., (2019) Quantitative, Longitudinal	20,745 mixed gender young adults of White, Black, Latinx, and Asian racial/ethnic backgrounds in the USA	Political behaviors	Mental (depressive symptoms)	National		Early young adult political behaviors predicted young adult depressive symptoms, and findings were generalizable across racial/ethnic groups.

Elena Maker Castro is a doctoral student of Psychology and Human Development at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her major research interests include youth civic engagement and critical consciousness development

Laura Wray-Lake is an Associate Professor of Social Welfare at University of California, Los Angeles. Her scholarship examines the development of civic engagement across adolescence and young adulthood and identifies key factors that enhance youth civic engagement

Alison K. Cohen is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco. Her major research interests include documenting inequities in young people’s health, education, and civic engagement, and evaluating interventions that could reduce these inequities