Shared Citizenship, Context, and the Next Generation of Self-Determination Research.

Jackson et al. (2025) wrote a think-piece, not an experiment. They asked: what if we stop treating self-determination as a solo skill and start treating it as shared citizenship?

The authors mapped how homes, schools, jobs, and laws all shape choice-making. They say future studies must measure and tweak these real-world settings, not just train the person.

The paper finds a gap. Most self-determination tools score only the individual. None track whether the context welcomes or blocks choice.

Their fix: add citizenship metrics like "opportunity to vote," "access to transportation," and "supportive relationships." Change the setting first, then teach the skill.

Vargas (2013) first drew the social-ecological map. Jackson et al. (2025) keep the map but swap the destination from "autonomy" to "citizenship."

Parchomiuk et al. (2025) give the idea legs. They interviewed adults with ID and listed real barriers—over-protective families, rigid group homes, absent policies. Their data extend the citizenship call into an adult ID sample.

Van der Molen et al. (2010) warned that autonomy-only goals can isolate people. Jackson et al. (2025) answer with a citizenship lens that puts relationships back in the picture.

If you write self-determination goals, stop at "student will make choices" and look around. Does the classroom schedule allow choice? Can the student get to the voting site? Add context objectives alongside personal ones. Measure things like "number of adult allies" or "accessible community activities." When context improves, individual skills grow faster and stick longer.