| Helen Marks
Ohio State University
Community service in the US high schools: Patterns of participation and citizenship outcomes
FINAL REPORT:
Study 1: Questioning Commitment: The Choice for Community Service Among U.S. High School Students.
What accounts for differences among high school age students in their commitment to community service? The dynamics of community participation among young Americans are not well understood. Examining the influence of values, interests, and normative environments on students' decisions to participate, this study applies Selznick's sociological theory of participation to an analysis of differential patterns of volunteering -- never, in early high school or late high school only, or consistently throughout high school. Data for the study come from the reports of 12,229 high school students surveyed in three waves of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). Because the data are nested and the dependent variables dichotomous, the analysis employs a nonlinear multilevel analytic technique, the Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model (HGLM), an application of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Significant differences distinguished the participant groups including values (religion, social responsibility and a non-materialistic outlook), interests (particularly factors that relate to college admission), and normative environments (pre-high school socialization, peer support for service, school sector, and required or voluntary school policies for service.
Study 2: Volunteers and Voters? The Impact of Required and voluntary Service Two Years After High School.
Community service and service learning are being promoted as means to develop civic responsibility in young Americans. But how effective is participating in service during high school in promoting civic involvement, measured as volunteering in the community and voting, among young adults? Do required and voluntary service differ in their effects on participants? Using the third follow-up of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), the study investigates these questions among the 14, 915 members of the NELS:88 cohort who were surveyed when they were two years out of high school. Because the dependent variables -- volunteering and voting, yes or no -- are dichotomous, the study uses logistic regression as the main analytic technique. Results indicate that students who participate in community service during high school are likely to volunteer as young adults, but required service attenuates the positive effect. Participating in community service during early high school is a positive predictor of voting as a young adult, but service during late high school has no effect on future voting. Participating in required service during high school decreases the likelihood that the young adult will vote.
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