Youth involvement in extracurricular activities reflects both family social
ization influences and civic development. Parents can promote such activity
through examples set by personal involvement in the community and through
reinforcement of their children's interests. Using data (N = 362) from the
9th and 10th grade waves of the Iowa Youth and Families Project (Conger & E
lder, 1994), we find that both the behavioral model set by parents and thei
r personal reinforcement of children's actions make significant differences
in the extracurricular activity involvement of boys and girls. However, pa
rental reinforcement is most consequential when parents are not engaged in
community activities. In this situation, warm parents are likely to reinfor
ce their children, and this reinforcement strengthens children's involvemen
t in community activities. The family dynamics of civic socialization deser
ve more attention than they have received to date.