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Faculty Advisor

Ansuk Jeong

Abstract

University students tend to have ample access to many resources for volunteering and so are in a unique position among Americans. With all the benefits of volunteering outlined in past research, the students training to become leaders in their fields may have the most to gain from volunteerism. It is surprising, then, to note that young people are less likely to volunteer than other age groups. Why is it that college students tend to volunteer at such low rates? The current study seeks to answer this question through a mixed-methods survey. A qualitative section clarified which specific barriers students felt they faced to volunteering, as well as which motivators and resources pushed them to volunteer anyway. A quantitative section followed, which hoped to measure participants’ propensity to volunteer, perception that their school values volunteering, and sense of community in any volunteer groups they were part of. These were analyzed against each other and the respondents’ total volunteer hours in the past year, in an attempt to clarify which factors lead to increased or decreased volunteering. Qualitative analysis revealed 5 or more major themes for each domain explored. Among other dimensions, prioritization of time was identified as a barrier to volunteering while self- and other-focused motivations and moral obligations were reported as motivations to volunteer. No significant quantitative results were found in initial testing or further analysis, using housing type as a grouping variable. Exploratory tests using sense of community and ratings of school values as independent predictors of total volunteering hours also yielded no statistical significance. Further research is suggested on the topic of college students’ motivations and barriers to volunteer.

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