Motivations and Benefits of Student Volunteering: Comparing Regular, Occasional, and Non-Volunteers in Five Countries

Smith, Karen; Holmes, Kirsten; Haski‐Leventhal, Debbie; Cnaan, Ram A.; Handy, Femida; Brudney, Jeffrey L.

doi:10.22230/cjnser.2010v1n1a2

Cited by 97 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In particular, the ways such volunteering intersects with state, corporate and social agendas, as well as individual projects of volunteers, provide some marked departures from the characterisations put forward in much of the current literature. This observation builds on incipient studies which suggest youth volunteers often transcend rather than confirm motivations and choices about experiences as ascribed in existing literature (Holdsworth, ; Smith et al., ).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 65%

“…Further, Smith et al. (, p. 258) suggest that everyday practices and feelings in volunteering serve “to place the experiences of volunteers centrally in accounts of what matters in the doing of volunteering”, and go “beyond service provision or active citizenship”. This paper, then, builds on this incipient scholarship by exploring youth/student motivations for development volunteering in Singapore.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Helping from home: Singaporean youth volunteers with migrant‐rights and human‐trafficking NGOs in Singapore

Yea

2017

Geographical Journal

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Social science literature on development volunteering has mainly focused on the interstices between overseas travel experiences and organised placements, with a particular focus on youth. To date, this literature has not engaged with development volunteering that takes place within one's “home country” where subjects of helping are nonetheless racially and developmentally inscribed “Others”, such as refugee groups and exploited or trafficked migrants. This paper explores the motivations for and meanings of youth volunteering in development “at home”. The site for this examination is volunteers with NGOs oriented to migrant rights and human trafficking in Singapore. The paper makes a case for recognition of a more complicated geography of volunteering in development which is inclusive of development issues and subjects at home. Following this, the paper argues that this expression of development volunteering complicates existing characterisations, principally as volunteers express opposition to socially and state sanctioned discourses of service learning through development. Therefore, it is important to consider the political and social context of development volunteering to understand the motivations and meanings attached to development volunteering.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Helping from home: Singaporean youth volunteers with migrant‐rights and human‐trafficking NGOs in Singapore

Yea

2017

Geographical Journal

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“…There are a range of estimates for student volunteering in America where most student volunteering research is conducted (Smith et al, 2010). While not directly comparable to Australian studies, this research shows that a significant proportion of students give of their time.…”

Section: College/university Students and Volunteeringcontrasting

confidence: 61%

What predicts Australian university students' intentions to volunteer their time for community service?

Hyde

Knowles

2013

Australian Journal of Psychology

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University students represent one target population with great potential to serve as volunteers. The primary focus on describing the characteristics of students who choose to volunteer, however, has resulted in limited understanding of the psychosocial factors impacting on students' decisions to volunteer. To bridge this gap, we used an extension of a well-known theoretical framework, the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), to predict students' intentions to volunteer for community service. Using content and thematic analysis, we explored also students' motivations and constraints for volunteering. Students (N = 235; M age = 22.09 years) selfreported their attitude, normative influences, control perceptions, moral obligation, past behaviour, demographic characteristics, and intentions for volunteering via questionnaire. Regression analyses showed that the extended TPB explained 67% of the variance in students' volunteering intentions. In qualitative analyses, themes primarily represented the factors contributing to low efficacy for volunteering (e.g., time constraints). Control perceptions and perceived moral obligations related to volunteering represent important future targets to encourage student volunteering for organisations providing critical services for those most in need.

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“…Motivation has been previously revealed as a major factor as to why young people volunteer (Smith et al . ). From the stories shared in this study, motivation to mentor other at‐risk young people is an intrinsic value where personal experiences are used to help others.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Rewriting stories of trauma through peer‐to‐peer mentoring for and by at‐risk young people

Douglas

Jackson

Woods

et al. 2019

Int J Mental Health Nurs

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Adverse childhood experiences are strongly associated with the development of mental health disorders during the life span. When mental health issues are not effectively dealt with during the adolescent period, young people can become long‐term consumers in the mental health system. A widely accepted method of intervention is the provision of mentoring. More recently, young people have been fulfilling the role of mentor to their peers and mentoring has played a large role in supporting young people who are considered at‐risk of not achieving the expected psychosocial, educational, and/or developmental goals. What is not known is why young people, previously identified as being at‐risk, are motivated to mentor their at‐risk peers. The study aim was to examine what motivates previously recognized at‐risk young people to provide mentoring to their at‐risk peers. Participants were twelve previously recognized at‐risk young people recruited through a formal peer‐to‐peer mentoring programme. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted, and the data analysed through narrative inquiry and reported in accordance with the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research guidelines (COREQ). Results indicate that young people are motivated by their own lived experiences of trauma(s) to provide at‐risk peer mentoring. The experience of mentoring afforded opportunities to rewrite individual personal journeys of trauma through mentoring their at‐risk peers, thus constructing a more positive self‐identity. Outcomes of developing positive peer relationships and prosocial behaviours could significantly assist mental health clinicians in providing more acceptable care to clients in an age group known to be reluctant to accept traditional mental health intervention.

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Motivations and Benefits of Student Volunteering: Comparing Regular, Occasional, and Non-Volunteers in Five Countries

Cited by 97 publications

References 16 publications

Helping from home: Singaporean youth volunteers with migrant‐rights and human‐trafficking NGOs in Singapore

Helping from home: Singaporean youth volunteers with migrant‐rights and human‐trafficking NGOs in Singapore

What predicts Australian university students' intentions to volunteer their time for community service?

Rewriting stories of trauma through peer‐to‐peer mentoring for and by at‐risk young people

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