Ideas about volunteering among modern youth

Abstract

Background. Currently, there is an increase in the popularity of the volunteer movement among young people. The motivational basis of volunteer activity plays an important role in the analysis of the level of volunteer involvement, readiness for constant participation in helping behavior. Objective of the research: studying the characteristics of motivation among young people to participate in volunteering as well as analyzing the ideas about digital volunteering. Design. The study involved 47 full-time studentsof Moscow colleges 18 to 23 years old (M = 20.1, SD = 2.3). We used a questionnaire for analyzing volunteering motivation(VFI). The questionnaire aimed at studying the volunteer activity of respondents and understanding the content of volunteer activity in different areas wasused as well as a diagnostic tool. The VFI questionnaire was usedfor the first time in a Russian sample. The translation was done independently by three experts. Aftercoordinating theirversions, a reverse translation was made into the original language, followed by a comparison of the original version with the resulting double translation. Results. The results obtained made it possible to identify 3 groups of motivational preferences in the field of volunteering for young people. The group of “active volunteers” is characterized by a high significance of most of the possible motives for helping behavior. The largest group in terms of number was the group of “pragmatists” volunteers focused on “volunteering as a career opportunity” and “volunteering as a source of development”. A group with a low level of understanding of possible options for volunteer activity was also identified — a group of “passive volunteers”. The nature of the relationship between real behavior and awareness of motivation can be two-way — on the one hand, the presence of motivation can stimulate participation in volunteering, and on the other hand, the experience of participation can help reflect the personal meaning of the process for oneself. The living experience of helping behavior determines the emphasis on “the absence of live direct interaction” as a lack of digital volunteering, especially among active volunteers and pragmatic volunteers. A certain inconsistency in ideas about the merits and limitations of digital volunteering was revealed — from assessing the capabilities of the digital form as broader, to assessing the space of self-realization in the distant online form as much narrower than in the offline form. Conclusions. The priority types of motivation are highlighted. Volunteering allows you to realize value attitudes, and is also viewed as a source of competence development. At the same time, the use of volunteer activity as a way to protect and compensate for psychological experiences is the least in demand. The concept of digital volunteering is rather vague — general characteristics of the distant form of helping behavior are indicated with a pronounced low level of awareness of volunteer structures in the Internet.