This Article Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Goss, K. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Volunteering and the Long Civic Generation

Harvard University

By virtually every conceivable measure, civic participation is on the decline in America. Volunteering is one important exception. An analysis of a newly available archive of national surveys finds that the frequency with which Americans volunteer has increased 20% since the mid-1970s. However, nearly all of that increase is concentrated among older Americans, who are volunteering twice as frequent in the late 1990s as their same-aged predecessors did in the 1970s. Meanwhile, volunteering has actually decreased among middle-age adults, who once were the voluntary sector’s most reliable source of donated labor. The reasons for increased volunteering among seniors remain elusive. Tests of various hypotheses, from improved health and financial conditions to increased spare time, do not explain the explosive increase. Nonetheless, it is clear that a powerful and mysterious force is pushing seniors toward greater volunteer involvement, and non-profit groups should tap into this particularly civic age group before the Indian summer of volunteering reaches its end.

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4, 378-415 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/0899764099284002


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. J. Einolf Will the Boomers Volunteer During Retirement? Comparing the Baby Boom, Silent, and Long Civic Cohorts Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, April 1, 2009; 38(2): 181 - 199. [Abstract] [PDF]

				F. Tang What Resources Are Needed for Volunteerism? A Life Course Perspective Journal of Applied Gerontology, November 1, 2006; 25(5): 375 - 390. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. A. Okun and J. Michel Sense of Community and Being a Volunteer Among the Young-Old Journal of Applied Gerontology, April 1, 2006; 25(2): 173 - 188. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. J. Houston "Walking the Walk" of Public Service Motivation: Public Employees and Charitable Gifts of Time, Blood, and Money J. Public Adm. Res. Theory., January 1, 2006; 16(1): 67 - 86. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. B. Reed and L. K. Selbee The Civic Core in Canada: Disproportionality in Charitable Giving, Volunteering, and Civic Participation Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, December 1, 2001; 30(4): 761 - 780. [Abstract] [PDF]