Educationally Disadvantaged Older Youth: Social Responsibility

Civic involvement can benefit young people in many ways, by increasing social support and interaction, providing meaning in life, and meeting the need for information and knowledge (McDevitt & Chaffee, 2000). Participation in community service activities has also been found to result in improved grades, attendance at school, social responsibility, and community-oriented attitudes (Calabrese & Schumer, 1986; Giles & Eyler, 1994; Hamilton & Fenzel, 1998; Schumer, 1994). AmeriCorps and Youth Corps seek to foster civic involvement and volunteerism, but civic participation was not measured in any of the program evaluations. More research is needed to determine whether programs are meeting this goal.  

Subgroup analyses summarized in the mixed reviews column of this table are non-experimental.  Please refer to the full report for discussion of these findings.