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Altruism and volunteering among high school students: a mixed methods study

Date

2017

Authors

Chaplain, Julie, author
Gloeckner, Gene, advisor
Frederiksen, Heidi, committee member
Coke, Pamela, committee member
Koehn, Karen, committee member

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Abstract

Twenty- first century skills require that students leave high school prepared for leadership by exhibiting selflessness and acting with larger community interests at heart. The role of altruism and volunteering among high school students who volunteered for a local Special Olympics event is examined with a mixed methods approach. An exploratory factor analysis of the Rushton Self-Rater Altruism scale (SRAS) was is conducted to evaluate the existence of underlying factors present in the altruism scale. All questions of the SRAS loaded onto three factors, which were are also verified by a scree plot analysis. Further analysis was is conducted to determine if sex differences, grade level differences, and grade point average correlations among the total SRAS score and summated factor scores are were significant. Sex differences were are statistically significant for females in total altruism, low risk, and high-risk summated factor scores. There were are no statistically significant differences between grade levels total altruism, or summated factor scores. Grade point averages (GPAs) were are also not found to correlate with altruism scores, indicating that students with higher GPAs are not more altruistic than their peers with lower GPAs . Qualitative coding and thematic analysis of written responses related to student motivations and benefits from volunteering are is conducted. Eleven motivational codes and eight benefit codes are developed. These codes were are then analyzed with quantitative analysis methods to determine if there were are statistically significant sex and grade level differences in the reported motivations and benefits of the volunteer experiences. Sex differences were are statistically significant for females on the motivation code of volunteering for a social/friend connection, and were are statistically significant for males on the motivation code of volunteering to fulfill a senior service/community service requirement. Grade level differences were are statistically significant for sophomore students on the motivation code of volunteering for career exploration, and for senior students on the motivation code of completing a senior service/community service project. While there are/were no sex differences amongst volunteers in relation to the benefits from volunteering, there were are statistically significant differences for sophomores on the benefit codes of gaining skills/experience and a community connection. Junior students have statistically significant differences for the benefit code of a social/friend connection.

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Subject

altruism
pro-social behaviors
volunteering
high school
adolescents
twenty-first century skills

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