The study by Sundeen and Raskoff (2000) that investigated pathways into volunteering also looked at obstacles they met along the way. The researchers found three main reasons that young people were not involved in volunteering:
- lack of time;
- lack of interest; and
- not being asked.
For the young people participating in this project "lack of time" was certainly a major difficulty that many faced. It not only affected their ability to volunteer, but also many other aspects of their lives. However "lack of interest" was rarely apparent and "not being asked" did not arise at all. Instead participants indicated that they were prevented or discouraged from volunteering by two main kinds of factors: those in the external world such as social attitudes and the formal structure and arrangement of volunteering; and factors connected to their individual characteristics, capabilities, views and commitments:
External factors
- Peer pressure
- Restrictions on volunteers
- Lack of information
Personal factors
- Lack of skills
- Lack of confidence
- Time constraints
- Disaffection with volunteering
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External factors
Peer pressure
A phrase we heard many times in discussions with young people during this project was that "volunteering is uncool". For young people at the older end of the 16–24-year age span the "uncoolness" of volunteering was not an issue. They pointed to this view among younger people while indicating that it no longer affected their thinking or behaviour (if it had ever done). For the youngest people we spoke to however, this view of volunteering was a common source of angst and some frustration. They simultaneously defended volunteering but appeared to fear the "stigma" that was associated with it.
Many of the older participants protested that they did not think of volunteering as "uncool", or if they had done in the past, no longer did so. One participant suggested that she never had – and intimated that she had not realised that others did:
I still don't think it's uncool. Sometimes you only realise it later …
However, most of the younger participants claimed they knew people who did and suggested that this was the majority of their peers:
It's also the age 'cos teenagers are typically rebellious, they don't want to help anyone, they want to do their own thing.
It's because we're in a very image conscious world and it's uncool …
They think it's not a fashionable thing to do to give your time to someone else.
Interestingly, not all volunteer activities were similarly "uncool". Volunteer activities that involved high numbers of older people – either as the majority of other volunteers or as beneficiaries of the volunteering – were considered to be the worst:
Generally the idea of volunteering is it isn't so much doing things you enjoy it's the knocking on the doors and visiting old people and stuff and that you associate with the old people. I'm sorry but … horrors …
Activities that suffered less were those in which a large number of young people were involved – either as volunteers or the beneficiaries of volunteering – and activities in which the young people had some control and responsibility, rather than being controlled or directed. In fact some activities were particularly "cool" and conferred status on the volunteers among their peers. These were activities such as sports coaching (particularly among young men) and organising music events for other young people. Career-related volunteering (e.g. to get experience in a field, to learn skills or make useful contacts) was also looked on more sympathetically. Overall, the difference between "cool" and "uncool" activities seemed to be expressed in the view that:
(the) volunteer role is only as attractive as the people you're working with …
While most of the discussion participants did not want to admit openly that peer pressure affected their views of, or participation in, volunteering, it did appear to have had an influence. Only a few said "I used to think like that, but …" and no-one expressly said "I wouldn't do that because it's uncool". However, some young people were uncomfortable talking about their participation in "uncool" volunteer activities in front of their peers and the body language of those listening was sometimes very expressive. Occasionally also an admission provoked laughter among listeners, particularly when it seemed out of character for the particular young person concerned.
Some young people appeared to be frustrated about a negative view of volunteering when they themselves were enjoying (or had enjoyed) a volunteering experience and wanted others to have the same enjoyment. For instance, one participant said:
I do wonder if some of those people if they actually tried some volunteer activities would actually change (their view).
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Restrictions on volunteering
Discussion participants expressed concern about two practices of volunteer organisations that discouraged them from volunteering. One mentioned often by younger participants was that some organisations are not able to accept volunteers under 18 years of age:
… because of my age they weren't really keen … because of all this liability that's a real barrier …
Most of the young people referring to this practice indicated that they believed restrictions had been imposed because of legislative requirements or for security or safety reasons. However some also thought that they reflected the organisation's concern about the capabilities of young people:
There's issues with young people doing it, like working with the elderly, 'cos they don't know if you can do it, or how well …
Nevertheless they found it disheartening and discouraging. For instance, several young participants talked about a leader from a volunteer organisation who had spoken to them about its work organising soup kitchens. Fired with enthusiasm they had later approached this person, only to be told that they were "too young" to help:
We were all more than happy to sign up but then there were restrictions like you have to be over 18 …
Another participant similarly spoke about the discouragement she had felt after she had approached another organisation and was rejected because she was too young. It had discouraged her from approaching any other organisations for some time.
The young people affected by these restrictions argued for changes that would allow them to participate at least in some way:
Some voluntary organisations have to notice that some of the people that are willing to do volunteer work are not necessarily over 18 and they've got to use them instead of telling them to go over there until we need you.
More specifically, some participants suggested that more organisations could offer "youth development programs", similar to those already offered by several organisations. Participants who had experienced these programs seemed, on the whole, to have enjoyed and benefited from them:
I got involved in that surf-lifesaving through school with the youth development program … I think for a start you do it because you think it's one less class, it's going to be a bludge also you get the training and it looks good on your CV, but it also gives you an insight you wouldn't normally get because it gives you that introduction to it …
A second practice of volunteer organisations that was identified by participants as a barrier to volunteering was that some require a minimum time commitment from their volunteers and/or regular hours.
Many participants identified themselves as in a "transient" stage of life when they are uncertain where they will be in a year's time and what they will be doing. This means, they indicated, that they are unable to take on any long-term commitments. They may only be able to commit to volunteering for a short period, perhaps a few months at most. In addition, many participants indicated that work and study commitments mean that they often have only a few hours a week to devote to volunteering and that the length of time, and the particular hours they are available, may change, if for instance, they have an extra study requirement to meet, or a work shift is altered.
Generally, participants were sympathetic with organisations that imposed minimum time commitments on their volunteers in return for providing them with substantial training. Nevertheless, they indicated that this made no difference to the limitations on their capacity to meet these commitments.
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Lack of information
Lack of information about opportunities appeared to be a major impediment to volunteering by a large number of the young people participating in this project. Even among participants already involved in formal volunteering it was agreed that improved information dissemination was essential.
Some participants partly blamed themselves for not finding out about opportunities:
We tend to be a bit sort of lazy about it … you have it in the back of your mind one day I'm going to do this but without some sort of trigger … it takes a lot of effort really to say I'm going to do this and find out where you want to work … and how to go about joining up …
However a more common complaint was:
I think a lot of people would volunteer if they were just told about it … but we don't know …
The pressure of other commitments meant that many participants were unable to follow up initial information they received. For instance a group of senior school students indicated that hearing about an opportunity once was not enough:
You can hear about it but you hear about it once and that's the last you hear about it and you didn't quite catch all of the information …
You're interested at first and then you can't remember …
But they admitted that with many other pressures on their time:
You're not going to go out of your way to find out …
Lack of information about opportunities seemed to be much more of an issue in metropolitan rather than regional or rural areas. Participants from outside major cities appeared to be strongly connected to their communities and aware of "where help is needed" and how they could become involved. However, in the cities it was often a different story with more young people indicating that they were unaware of where and how volunteering opportunities were available and how to go about becoming involved. This, coupled with age barriers and parental encouragement had been partly responsible for a group of young participants arranging their own informal volunteering activity.
In both metropolitan and regional/rural areas, participants already involved in formal volunteer activities had gathered or received information through a number of routes. A minority had approached organisations because of an interest in their work. These tended to be older participants based in the city. Some had heard through "word of mouth" from a friend or family member who was perhaps, but not always, already involved. Several had responded to advertisements in local newspapers, or on television, a few had found information through the Internet. For the youngest participants school was a very important source of information. Guest speakers, teachers and career advisers had all played a role. A small number had slipped into the volunteer activity as a result of their previous participation in another activity through the same organisation. Thus they already had some inside knowledge about what was possible and the specific tasks required. These included young people who had progressed to sports coaching from playing in the sport at a more junior level, a few who had participated in youth development programs (e.g. surf-lifesaving) and a former guide who was now a guide leader.
However, even where participants had managed to obtain information, they often complained that it was incomplete and inadequate. They argued a need for more specific information about tasks and outcomes:
… if they said this is who we need, basically this is the work you gonna have to do, this is what you're going to get out of it … if they keep it to the point …
They also wanted more stories, "personal experiences" of people who were already involved – particularly other young people. Most importantly they wanted to know:
… that what you're signing up for is going to help other people …
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Personal factors
Lack of skills
The youngest participants in this project in particular were concerned that they lacked the skills necessary to perform some volunteering activities:
Being at that young age where you can't really do a lot …
and suggested that even when they did, older people might not think so:
There's issues with young people doing it, like working with the elderly, 'cos they don't know if you can do it, or how well …
Many others also wondered if they had the skills necessary to be a volunteer and indicated that perhaps other people were better qualified:
It's quite difficult because there are so many other people who could do that job. Sometimes you feel there are people who are better qualified than you are …
Several also suggested that lacking skills and much time to devote to volunteering they – and their peers – did not think they could "make a difference" – and so volunteering seemed "a waste of time":
I think a lot of teenagers wouldn't do it because they'd think there was like no point. They think that working on their life is worth more at the time than working for volunteer things because sometimes you don't believe that you can actually make a difference.
Lack of confidence
Several participants indicated that they found the idea of approaching a volunteer organisation "intimidating". This was particularly the case for participants who had moved from the city to the country and were not sure where they fitted:
In a country town you're pretty sure who's good at what but in the city … there's so many other people with the same kind of skills …
A number of participants indicated that their confidence had been dented by a rejection from a volunteer organisation. This was not so bad if the organisation had "too many" volunteers but worse when they were put off because of their age, or lack of skills.
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Time constraints
Time constraints were a major obstacle to volunteering by many participants. Some younger participants suggested that they currently had only "limited time" – trying to fit in school work, including extra-curricula activities, and part-time work. But they thought they might have even less time in the future:
… when you're older … you start to concentrate on your career and you don't have so much time to bother about volunteering …
Participants who had moved to the city from the country noted that there were many other ways to fill their time. While volunteering activities were part of their leisure in the country the city offered many more entertainment possibilities:
In the city compared to the country – there's so much more that you have to do that's taking up your time … The things that you use for entertainment in the country you don't have the time or resources for those roles when you come to the city.
Some young participants in a regional centre also saw a developing conflict between volunteering and a changing world:
Volunteer work usually takes up a lot of time and nowadays everyone's pushed for time and time is money and all those sorts of …
It also depends, as the world changes, like we get busier and busier and we have less time, and volunteering is sort of a concept where's it's sort of … it's fading. We don't do it as much as what we used to.
They debated whether volunteering was a "leisure" activity:
It detracts from leisure time for a lot of people. Or that's how they see it.
Well for genuine volunteers it is, because it's what they want to be doing, but for others.
and concluded that it really depended on the nature of the volunteering activity:
Depends on the work. Hiking down the river is leisure kind of, and it's also volunteering, supervising all the little kids, whereas walking around picking up rubbish isn't exactly leisure but it is good volunteering.
Despite this, in their view volunteering is an activity that can be performed primarily by "people who don't have anything to do", like:
Those who have free time, housewives or those who are retired and so and so, or they just want to fill in the hours …
Many participants spoke of the pressures they were under due to the need to combine their study with part-time work:
You're under pressure to do well at uni and to do a job as well.
One participant from a regional centre but studying in the city, who indicated that volunteering was essential for obtaining a job in her particular field, also noted conflict between volunteering/career demands and her desire to spend some time at home with her family:
If you want to volunteer during the holidays – that's the only time I get to go home – I would like to have volunteered for a week but I only got to do two days and even that was sacrificing time with my Mum and my sisters …
In spite of the general agreement that time constraints affected the ability to volunteer participants in one discussion group indicated that if the specific volunteering activity was "important enough" most people, including themselves, could "make time" to fit it in. Nevertheless this group, along with most others, suggested that effort encouraging students in their final year of schooling to take up a volunteer effort would be wasted. The demands of this year on students' time are too overwhelming.
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Disaffection due to poor previous experiences of volunteering
In the previous section we noted that a positive experience of volunteering could be an "encouraging factor" for further volunteer activity. The corollary to this is that a negative experience can cause a young person to become disaffected with volunteering. Some of the negative experiences mentioned by the young people participating in this project were:
- Being isolated or lonely – having no-one to share the work with or to talk to (especially no other young people).
- Feeling exploited – being placed under too much pressure or given too much responsibility:
As a volunteer I felt like I haven't been shown enough respect or been taken as seriously as a paid worker and yeah, I think that needs to change. I think a volunteer probably should be taken more seriously than somebody you're paying because they're donating their time and effort and … too many ignorant people out there, who like organise these things. Yeah.
- Having no opportunity to contribute to the development of objectives or activities:
Young people would be more interested in (volunteering if) it's not as restrictive … like if somebody volunteers and they want to go out and you know they should sit down and maybe brain storm if it's a group. Say what can we do to help the community or … just have like more … more input with … what the actual people who are volunteering, who are doing the work, what they see as … big parts of helping the community or big parts of the whole volunteering sort of life.
- Conflicts with other people including other volunteers, staff or clients:
I would not get involved in any type of voluntary work because once I (did) and the blame for (an)other's mistake came on me.
Participants indicated that negative experiences can be very powerful. In particular, bad news tends to travel faster than good:
… you'd certainly have to make sure it's a positive experience. If you have one person with a bad experience they're going to talk about it – they'll tell everyone they meet don't go to this place … but if someone has a good experience they'll only tell someone close to them, they won't want to brag about it …
and tends to feed or reinforce pre-held views:
I get the feeling that it's a lot easier for people not involved (in volunteering) to take negative comments on board – as in "don't do it" than positive comments (like) "I had a really good time you should come along". Maybe they see it as an excuse.
Nevertheless, a negative experience may not be completely off-putting. Its influence depends on how bad the experience is and whether other things compensate, such as the motivations of the individual:
If you have a negative experience well … maybe you'll be jaded for a small period of time, maybe for a long period of time. Depending on the person I think. I want to go and do more but … I volunteered as a stage manager at an (Music Festival) and I got pushed around all day by the guy who was getting paid and I wasn't getting paid for it and I ended up just feeling like shit.
Disaffection due to inappropriate advertising
Young people believe that advertising can encourage volunteering, particularly if it is properly targeted and structured. However, project participants were concerned that some current advertising seemed to be designed to make people feel guilty and indicated that this causes people to "switch off":
You get these ads that, like the tear-jerkers that you just like want to turn the TV off or just leave the room because you don't want to have that in your face telling you that you're bad because you've got it better than somebody else.
In addition, they argued that some advertisements make problems look so large and overwhelming that they persuade viewers that they can do nothing to make a difference. Thus they can put off potential volunteers:
I think the whole 40 000 children die every second or whatever, it's like well you can save one of them but I can't save 39 999 children so what's the point of even trying, I'm still going to feel bad because they're dying and I think there's just too much of a negative effect of advertising of charities.
For some participants, being influenced to volunteer by feelings of guilt leads to "a bad taste in the mouth" and contributes to a poor, or negative, volunteering experience:
You feel disgusted. You've got that bad taste in your mouth.
They argued that volunteering was something you should do:
… because you want to, not because you think you should.
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Summary and observations
Our discussion group participants identified two main kinds of factors that discourage them from volunteering. In the first group are factors in the external world. Strong among these is peer pressure and particularly the view that "volunteering is uncool". This is most influential on young people at the lower end of the 16–24-year age range. Older young people recognise that this peer pressure exists but it seems to have little to no influence on their behaviour.
Restrictions on the volunteering opportunities open to them are a concern for young people under 18 years of age. They understand that some restrictions are imposed for safety or security, but are more concerned about restrictions imposed for no obvious reason, or because of mistaken views about the capabilities and skills of young people.
Lack of information about volunteering opportunities is also a concern. Some young people recognise that information is available but that they have made insufficient effort to obtain it, or follow-up the information they do have. Others indicate that existing information is inadequate and does not give young people enough detail to be able to make a decision about volunteering, or particular volunteer activities.
The second group of discouraging factors are connected with the characteristics, capabilities and views of the young people themselves. A belief that they lack essential skills prevents some young people from putting themselves forward, while others lack the confidence to approach volunteer organisations. Lack of time to devote to volunteer activities is a problem for many young people, particularly those trying to combine work, study and leisure activities. Some young people have poor views of volunteering that flow from a previous negative experience or inappropriate advertising.
The young people themselves recognise that there are ways of overcoming many of these factors. For instance they believe that participation in compulsory volunteer activity allows young people to "get over" the "uncoolness" of it and escape the stigma that can accompany voluntary participation. More effort could be made by volunteer organisations to contact and encourage young people and to ensure that their experience of volunteering or compulsory community service is a positive one. These organisations could, for instance, give greater recognition to young people's skills and assign them more interesting and worthwhile tasks. Information about volunteering could be more widely distributed and more detail could be included, with examples of specific activities and outcomes.
However, the lack of time is a problem that seems insurmountable for many young people, especially those who already face substantial study and work pressures.