Youth Volunteering Research Articles

Volunteering Trajectories and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Persistent, Emergent, and Former Volunteers and Personal, Moral, and Prudential Reasoning

Although trajectories of youth volunteering were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, nevertheless some youth persisted in volunteering, and others emerged as volunteers. To understand volunteering trajectories, the present mixed method study proposed a model adapted from prior literature and examined volunteer trajectories during the pandemic. Youths’ volunteer trajectories were categorized (as persistent, emergent, or former volunteer, or persistent non-volunteer) and their justifications for their volunteer decisions were classified using social domain theory (personal, social, moral, and prudential). A sample of 461 youth ( Mage = 19.26; 68.8% female; 41.6% European or North American) from a large Canadian university completed a retrospective survey on pandemic volunteering and volunteer decisions. Volunteer decisions were coded using conventional and directed qualitative content analysis. Although the pandemic disrupted the volunteering trajectories of former volunteers, overall, more youth persisted or emerged as volunteers during the pandemic, a finding framed in both the trajectory and emergency and disaster literature. Volunteers were more likely to use moral justifications, whereas prudential justifications were more frequent among non-volunteers. The present study offers insight into the impact of the pandemic on youth volunteering and is one of the first studies to find a substantive role for prudential reasoning in youth decision making.

Long Term Care Staff Perspective on Youth Volunteering

Long Term Care Staff Perspective on Youth Volunteering

The Impact of Fourteen Years of UK Conservative Government Policy on Open Access Youth Work

This article reviews the impacts of the UK Conservative Party’s government policies on ‘open access youth work’ since 2010, giving particular attention to the period since 2018 and to impacts in England. After clarifying the practice’s distinctive features, it outlines the ‘austerity’ demolition of its local provision and—amid continuing wider financial pressures—changes in the role and contributions of the voluntary youth sector. It lists a range of ‘gesture’ funds for financing responses to young people’s needs and interests as the government has defined them and uses the Youth Investment Fund (YIF) as a case study of how this money has been made available and allocated. Initiatives taken by the Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) are then examined: its Youth Review, National Youth Guarantee, review of the statutory guidance to local authorities, and support for ‘youth volunteering’. Two key developments are then considered that, by early 2024, were diverting and inhibiting an even partial sustained reinstatement of the lost open access youth work facilities. One, at the policy level, is the redefinition of ‘youth work’ by governments and by some within the youth work sector itself as a wide range of out-of-school practices with young people; the other, at the point of delivery, is the on-going difficulties in recruiting youth workers, especially those with direct practice experience. Finally, two possible tentative suggestions for some reinstatement of open access youth work provisions are then discussed.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth volunteering behaviors: Evidence from Northern Ireland

AbstractYouth volunteering is associated with a host of individual benefits, in addition to the service provided to organizations and communities. However, little is known about the volunteering behaviors of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth. This is a large and growing lacuna in the literature, as recent demographic surveys show that younger people are far more likely to identify as LGBTQ than those in older generations across many countries. Using Hustinx et al.'s Inequality in Volunteering model as a theoretical lens and analyzing survey data from 16‐year‐olds in Northern Ireland, this research explores whether LGB youth experience inequalities in volunteering activities relative to their non‐LGB peers. Measures of volunteering activities include propensity to volunteer in formal and informal settings, motivations, location for formal volunteering, and experiences while volunteering. Findings indicate that LGB youth are less likely to volunteer in sports or religiously oriented organizations, more likely to volunteer in order to expand social networks, and less likely to report feeling appreciated by the organizations they volunteer with. I discuss implications for philanthropic organizations wanting to move towards creating inclusive environments for LGBTQ youth volunteers and call for increased investment in data collection within gender and sexual minority populations.

Civil Society, Volunteerism, and Youth Citizenship in Fiji

Fiji’s multi-ethnic society is historically characterised by low levels of inter-ethnic trust and a segregated civil society, typified by low participation of youth, the poor, ethnic minorities, and less literate members of society. How does this actually existing civil society shape the social transactions, value subjectivities, norms and habits of citizenship bred through volunteering and other forms of civic engagement in these contexts? Drawing on data from a mixed method study on youth volunteering in Fiji, this paper interrogates prevailing normative assumptions on volunteerism’s role in retooling civic renewal and citizenship. Being socially situated, the outcomes of youth volunteering vary. Specifically, youth volunteering in organisations that value inclusion has midwifed progressive citizenship values; while, participation in bonding type civil society reproduces exclusionary citizenship, social disparities and patterns of discrimination and privilege. The implication is that for volunteerism to produce desired progressive citizenship values and attitudes, civic organisations transmitting such values need to be specifically focussed on progressive goals.

Parental Influence and Religious Context: A Cross-Level Perspective on Volunteering during Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Different religions may have different cultural values toward volunteering in the wider community. Although prior research has examined how individual religious characteristics may influence volunteering, comparatively less is known about how different religious contexts in which one is embedded may bring about variations in volunteering. To fill in this gap, this study applied multilevel analyses to merged data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), the U.S. Census, and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS). Results suggest that a county’s Catholic population share was positively associated with the frequency of youth volunteering even after controlling for a wide range of individual and county-level variables. Surprisingly, an increasing county-level Catholic population share may even strengthen the positive effect of parental volunteering influence on youth volunteering. In contrast, the county-level evangelical Protestant population share bear a negative relationship with youth volunteering frequency, which was mediated by county-level socioeconomic controls.

Economic contribution and social effects of youth volunteering in the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic: a case of a large Russian region

Economic contribution and social effects of youth volunteering in the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic: a case of a large Russian region

Islamic Philanthropy on Social Media in Youth Volunteering Movements

Islamic philanthropy through social media is a form of community participation in the youth volunteering movement. Social media is used to spread information, raise funds, attract volunteers, and collaborate with philanthropic institutions. Islamic philanthropy through social media can help in building a caring and sharing society, as well as strengthening the spirit of humanity and expanding the reach of philanthropic activities. Islamic philanthropy through social media has an important role in helping youth to build a more caring and friendly society. Youth volunteering movements are in dire need of support from the community, and Islamic philanthropy through social media can help overcome obstacles and strengthen the spirit of humanity. This research method uses a qualitative approach with a literature study method. Social media is becoming an effective tool for achieving the goals of the youth volunteering movement, by helping to disseminate information, raise funds, attract volunteers, and collaborate with philanthropic institutions. Therefore, Islamic philanthropy through social media is very important and can help youth in achieving their vision of building a better society.

Paradoxes of Patrimony: Family Planning, Youth Volunteering, and Becoming "Big" in Uganda

Abstract: This article examines the experiences and motivations of young volunteers engaged in the development domain of sexual and reproductive health and rights in Uganda. While promoting various family-planning projects, volunteers deftly navigated human-rights discourses of international donors, norms of religious leaders, and development narratives of national policymakers as they attempted to advance their own life projects. Through the creation of new narratives and their agency, the volunteers translated, reformed, and re-presented Global North development discourse as part of a situated theorization on development problems. Simultaneously these educated, middle-class youth embraced the discursively vague field of family planning as the likeliest avenue for social mobility by becoming "big" within national and local patrimonial and patriarchal systems. Although such family-planning programs do seem to allow some volunteers to achieve their goals, they paradoxically reproduce the patriarchal systems that gender-equality NGOs aim to dismantle.

Paradoxes of Patrimony: Family Planning, Youth Volunteering, and Becoming "Big" in Uganda

Paradoxes of Patrimony: Family Planning, Youth Volunteering, and Becoming "Big" in Uganda

Social action as a route to the ballot box: Can youth volunteering reduce inequalities in turnout?

AbstractA serious challenge facing Western democracies is the falling propensity of successive cohorts of citizens to vote. Over the last 50 years, newly eligible voters – particularly from poorer backgrounds – have become less likely to vote in their first elections, and more likely to develop habits of non‐voting. This trend has prompted greater interest in policies with the potential to increase first‐time voter turnout, such as lowering the voting age or compulsory political education. Despite a growing academic interest in volunteering as a means of youth political expression or route to civic revival, however, the promotion of youth volunteering has not been seriously considered as a potential tool to help address generational turnout decline.An extensive literature argues that volunteering can increase first‐time voter turnout, but it is hindered by the limited use of panel data and failure to account for confounding and selection effects. It has not, moreover, considered the potential for the effects of childhood volunteering to be conditional on prior political socialisation, particularly the influence of parents, which is necessary to assess its potential to reduce turnout gaps reflecting socio‐economic status. This study uses the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study and structural equation modelling to overcome these limitations and examine the impact of childhood volunteering on the turnout of newly eligible voters. It shows that for most young volunteers there is no significant benefit, but for the children of politically disengaged parents, volunteering does have a significant, positive effect.

Refusal of students from volunteering: research and management decisions in overcoming

Problem and purpose of the study. The organization of educational activities of schoolchildren and students in the field of education is an urgent managerial task. In the implementation of this task, within the framework of the state policy of many countries, an important place is given to the volunteer activity of young people. The purpose of this article is to identify the factors of youth non-participation in volunteer projects and to propose management solutions that allow improving educational work by activating the volunteer activity of schoolchildren and students. Methods. The article is based on the results of research projects implemented in the Sverdlovsk region (Russian Federation) in 2020-2022. The authors analyze data from a quantitative survey of students in the region (N=1105, 2020). The sample is quota-based with an error of no more than 3,5%. The sample is based on quotas by gender, age, level of education and place of residence. Quantitative data are supplemented by data from 8 focus groups conducted with schoolchildren, students of colleges and universities in the Sverdlovsk region in 2022. Results and discussion. The article proves that the choice of the position of participation or non-participation in volunteering is determined by the previous experience of volunteer activities. The main factors were identified: experience (r=0.306; p<0.001), regularity of previous volunteer work (r=0.4; p<0.001), level of responsibility for what happens in the hometown (r=0.290; p<0.001) and membership in youth organizations (r=0.379; p<0.001), which are significant for all age groups of young people. For schoolchildren, the factor of interest and participation in city events was additionally manifested, for college students it is an interest in politics, for university students it is their financial security. Conclusion. Based on the results of the study, recommendations have been developed to improve the conditions for youth volunteering in the education system. It is proved that socially oriented non-profit organizations are better at preventing refusal from volunteering than educational institutions. To activate the volunteer participation of students, the variability of short-term, but fairly regular and well-organized social projects is important.

Youth volunteering: representation in social media

The article presents the results of an empirical study that reveals the features of youth volunteering through representation in social networks. Within the framework of the ecosystem approach, new practices of interaction between volunteer associations are considered, problem areas and promising areas for the development of volunteerism are identified. Data collection was implemented based on a combination of methods: content analysis of thematic posts in the communities of volunteer associations in the VKontakte social network and a semi-formalized interview with volunteers (10 informants). The study has found that the representation in social networks fragmentarily reflects the practical activities of volunteers, there is a lack of information about current opportunities for volunteers, a predominantly regional agenda is presented, there is no data on current national and international projects, instead of announcements of upcoming events, a review of past events dominates. At the same time, the representation of volunteering provides the following social functions: information on the areas of activity, involvement of new participants, and highlighting past events. The ecosystem approach to the analysis of modern volunteer practices has shown resource opportunities and identified the problem areas related to representation, awareness, choice of direction of activity, attraction of resources, and organization of partnership programs. Based on the results of the study, recommendations are proposed for the development of volunteering practices among the youth, increasing the social activity of young people.

The Problem of Volunteer Motivation in Volunteering Management: A Sociological View

The article deals with the problems of analyzing the motivational component in the management systems of youth volunteering. The subject of the study is the totality of managerial relations that arise in the process of organizing the volunteer movement and the implementation of volunteer activities. The object of the study is the activities of volunteer, non-profit organizations. The problem lies in the possible outflow of volunteers after the first contact or event, without repeated or regular participation. It is important for managers and leaders of the voluntary sector to successfully involve young people in volunteer projects and develop their voluntary participation in the long term. The study of this issue will make it possible to form a holistic view of the significant aspects of the organization of the volunteer movement. The study is aimed at identifying existing approaches to motivating volunteers, finding the most effective ways to increase the level of volunteer motivation, developing tools to ensure a high level of motivation and involvement in projects of volunteer associations. To collect data on motivation in youth volunteering, the authors conducted a questionnaire survey, the participants of which were volunteers from Russian volunteer organizations based in higher educational institutions. The predominance of the non-material nature of the motivation of volunteers was revealed; a scale of motives was developed for testing volunteers and designing an individual route of volunteer experience in organizations. The unity and opposition of the types of volunteer participation in the concept of dual motivation of volunteers (altruism and selfishness) gives grounds for using a combined approach that takes into account various motives for participation.

Az ifjúsági önkéntesség a munkavállalás mérlegén

Recenzió. Hoskins, Bryony – Leonard, Pauline – Wilde, Rachel (2020): How Effective Is Youth Volunteering as an Employment Strategy? A Mixed Methods Study of England. Sociology, 54(4) pp. 763-781.

Economic contribution and social effects of youth volunteering in the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Case of a large Russian region

Economic contribution and social effects of youth volunteering in the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Case of a large Russian region

Volunteering of students: Social meaning and basis of motivated refusal

Introduction. The relevance of the study is associated with the need for scientific understanding of youth volunteering, deepening ideas about its educational potential, which is realised in the education system. In the context of international and national studies, it is important to evaluate the volunteer participation of the younger generation, its social effects on society. The social effectiveness of volunteering is a necessary condition, the result of educational activities organised in the educational environment. The study meets the practical request to determine the conditions for changing the qualitative characteristics of students volunteering with an active agenda of state assistance to the pro-social activity of the youth in the Russian Federation. Understanding the motivation, intentions and real opportunities for volunteer participation of high school students and students is important for improving the effectiveness of solving the task of increasing the social activity of young people, defined in the framework of the state youth policy.Aim. The article aimed to concretise the social significance of the volunteer participation of high school students and students and to determine the conditions for overcoming the motivated refusal of youth volunteering in the educational environment in order to increase the effectiveness of its organisation.Methodology and research methods. The methodological basis of the article is a set of theoretical ideas about the formation of social solidarity and stimulation of pro-social behaviour of young people. The theory of social participation has received a certain development in the article. The article is based on the materials of the authors’ research projects implemented in 2017–2020 in the Sverdlovsk region. Having used the questionnaire method, the authors analysed the data of a mass survey of young people in the Sverdlovsk region from 14 to 24 years old from 81 settlements of the region. A representative sample consisted of 1105 people, the error is no more than 3,5%. The sample was based on four quotas: gender, age, the main type of employment (school, college, and university) and type of city by population.Results and scientific novelty. The study showed that while maintaining a large number of students with experience in volunteering, the number of those, who consciously refuse or doubt that they will be engaged in volunteering in their future, increases. In recent years, the number of those, who have gained volunteering experience through initiatives in educational institutions, has increased significantly. The involvement of young Uralians in social projects has decreased. The study proves that the voluntary activity of young people is a necessary condition for the accumulation of social capital in territorial communities. The involvement of schoolchildren and students in youth organisations, in socio-cultural urban life is an important and necessary condition for effective volunteer participation of young people. It was revealed that volunteer experience is directly related to student interest in public life. It is proved that high school students and students with volunteer experience and intentions to continue it are more likely to be involved in the social and political life of their city or village than those who do not have such experience.Practical significance. In schools, colleges and universities, there is an important task of organising not only the educational process, but also educational activities. When requesting mass youth participation and the typicality of socially significant events, it is important to understand the conditions when the qualitative characteristics of volunteering by young citizens as members of the local community are being developed.

Volunteering as a technology for involving public activity and a factor of influence on the career strategies of youth

The article is devoted to the study of volunteering as a social technology through which young people are involved in public activity, and as a factor that affects the individual career strategies of its representatives. The world, all-Ukrainian and local tendencies of changes in the level of interest of young people in volunteering are compared, based on the results of a sociological survey of the attitude towards volunteering of students from one of the leading universities in Southern Ukraine and the results of other scientific studies on this issue. The results obtained confirm national trends. Thus, the most popular areas of volunteering among the youth coincide: helping children (74%), animals (66%), ATO soldiers (64%). The data on the motivational specifics of youth volunteering demonstrate a variety of perceptions of the value of volunteer experience even within the same age group of youth. The factor of student youth having free time is not a key factor in terms of their involvement in volunteering. The established interdependence between the self-identification of student youth and the presence of volunteer experience seems to be important. The obtained data and conclusions regarding age-related motivational characteristics and stereotypes about barriers to volunteering will help to correctly plan activities to involve young people in volunteering. In addition, the study will be useful for the development and improvement of educational programs aimed at training specialists in working with youth, organizing the involvement of its representatives in participating in the volunteer movement.

THE EFFECT OF GROUP EVENTS PROMOTING VOLUNTEERING ON THE AWARENESS AND MOTIVATION OF SCHOOL AND HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS

The publication deals with the theoretical and empirical researches of school and higher education students’ involvement in volunteering. The sociological survey analyzes results of students’ volunteering experiences among the participants of information events in the autumn-winter of 2021-2022 (before the Russian military aggression in Ukraine). The results of this sociological survey have shown specific features of school and higher education students’ attitude to volunteering. Attitudes to volunteering among school and higher education students, their awareness, the importance of such activities for them, knowledge about volunteering areas and volunteering benefits have been analyzed. The authors of the article analyze the results of the sociological survey of students who participated in the volunteering school (entrance and exit survey). Conclusions which were based on this survey help to define the impact of master-classes at the volunteering school on students' perceptions of volunteering, the importance of volunteering for students. The authors paid special attention to the study of the volunteering school’s impact on young people (school and higher education students) in the context of their informing and involvement in volunteering practices. Based on the results of the comparative analysis of volunteering practices among school and higher education students, the specifics of the ideas of the two groups of young people about volunteering have been determined. The article also analyzes forms of informational and explanatory work which can be used for informing and involving young people in volunteering, the effectiveness of webinars, trainings, group discussions, volunteering schools, which are held in "Caritas Zaporizhzhia Charitable Fund" to inform and motivate school and higher education students to volunteering. On the basis of this, the authors have considered and singled out the most effective forms of group informing social work and its stages with these age groups for their education before volunteering. The fact that the information work is more effectve for the schoolchildren than for higher education students is determined. It is important for the students that volunteering meets their interests, provides an opportunity to develop their skills and contacts that are important in their future professional activities. The authors determine the perspective of further research taking into account the development of youth volunteering in the conditions of martial law in Ukraine associated with military aggression.

Uneven geographies of youth volunteering in Uganda: Multi-scalar discourses and practices

This paper develops a multi-scalar geography of youth volunteering in Uganda. A growing body of research has explored the geographies of volunteering in the global North and international volunteering and development. However, despite the mainstreaming of volunteers as development actors, less attention has been paid to the unique local and national geographies of volunteering in global South settings. This paper explores how and why different ideas and practices of volunteering take shape and prominence in Uganda and how this impacts patterns of youth inclusion, inequality and opportunity. Analysing data on volunteering by young refugees in Uganda, we develop a multi-scalar geography to situate volunteering at the interface of ‘global’ volunteering policy and knowledges, aid and development architectures, youth unemployment, community institutions and local socio-economic inequalities. Through this, we reveal how programmed and audited forms of youth volunteering oriented to youth skills and employability are privileged. We show how this articulates with local inequalities to create uneven access to volunteering opportunities and practices. Through our approach, we show how a multi-scalar geography of volunteering enables us to build richer, more nuanced conceptualisations of volunteering in the global South that address the different ways global discourses, local histories, community organisations and social inequalities come together across space and time to produce uneven geographies of volunteering in particular places.