This volume originates from a symposium held in Boston at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) in February 1996. The symposium brought together researchers from several countries who were investigating community service and civic engagement in youth. Along with us, the participants, who also became contributors to this volume, were Connie Flanagan, Manfred Hofer, and Debi Roker. Lothar Krappmann of the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Germany, served as the discussant for the symposium and offered insight by tying the papers together and setting forth future research questions. The symposium was well attended and generated enthusiasm among the participants and audience. We subsequently learned that several members of the audience, including Hans Oswald, Mark Pancer, Mike Pratt, Rachel Seginer, and Keiko Takahashi, were also doing research in this area, and the idea germinated to bring our work together in an edited book.

But our goal was not just to present an international array of empirical research on youth's community service and activism. We also believed that this cross-cultural sampling of research offered insight into an emerging theoretical perspective on the development of civic identity in youth. This perspective emphasizes the formative influence of youth's participation in service and civic activities on their political understanding and future civic engagement. The chapters show several ways that this process is carried out in varying social-historical contexts.

In addition to the participants in the SRA symposium, we are grateful to the other contributors in the book. All of the authors tackled their chapters with great energy and imagination and were highly conscientious in responding to our seemingly endless queries and deadlines.