Abstract

        How often would you say that (your child) volunteers to help clear up a mess someone else has made? The answer to this question by the main parent in 1995 allows the study of the importance of child volunteering in relation to the quality of the family, and the influence of volunteering on future behaviour.

        The basic expectation is that the children most prone to volunteer will be those of relatively good character and behaviour, with relatively high quality parents committed to family, school and place of worship. Also, volunteering children will have healthier behaviours when teens.

        A majority of children aged 6 to 11 volunteered in 1994-95, 79%, and 31% never volunteered. The non-volunteers, 31% (26% of girls, 36% of boys) are the focus of this review, though the data for the volunteers is also available in the same form in Appendix 2.

        The rate of non-volunteering is lowest in Quebec, 27%, which is interesting because all of the studies of adult giving and volunteering we have seen reveal the Quebecois to be the most reluctant to give of either time or money. The rate is highest in Nova Scotia, 40%.

        Lower than average rates of non-volunteering (% under-represented, or lower than the Canadian rate) include children in strong families: no problems making family decisions, ability to talk of sadness, and good planning of family activities: -17%, -16% and -13%, under-represented, respectively.

        In the under-represented groups of child volunteering appear several in which weekly worship is the case: spouse of main parent (usually the father), -20%, for example, and one group in which the spouse and the main parent worshipped with the same frequency, -11%.

        Several groups of teens engaged in high-risk behaviours were over-represented in terms of non-volunteering when they were children eight years earlier: e.g., smokes weekly, does not always use birth control (though sexually active), considered suicide: 12%, 20% and 15%, respectively.

        After controlling for the effect of age and sex of parent and child, education of parent, faith affiliation of child, and region of residence, all measured in 1995, the child's volunteering had the expected positive effect on 11 teen behaviours, and one unexpected effect, divorced or separated parents in 2003.

        The expected negative influences were LSD/acid use, close friends drink alcohol, attempted (and considered) suicide, overweight, months with boy or girl friend; the positive influences were enjoyment of doing things for others, satisfaction with the way one looks, happiness, and close parental ties.

        Roman Catholic and liberal Protestant children were more prone to many high-risk teen behaviours than the reference conservative Christian children: smoking, drinking, marijuana use, times drunk, and sexual intercourse, e.g.