This paper presents results on the incidence and frequency of participation in community volunteer work by young Australians. It draws on data from the first panel of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth for the year 2000 and 2001 when respondents were 20 and 21 years old, respectively.
By age 20, 52% of the panel had participated in community volunteer work. Sports-related volunteer work (23%) was the most frequently reported type of volunteer work followed by church or youth group work (15%) and child care (15%). Volunteer work for charities was less frequently reported, but was still substantial – 7% had participated in home help for the elderly or incapacitated people, 6% in Meals on Wheels, 6% in fundraising for charities, and smaller percentages in a range of other activities. The proportion of young people who regularly undertook volunteer work at age 20 was smaller, but still substantial – 20% took part in community volunteer work at least once a month while 35% had participated in the preceding year.
In age 21, 46% of the panel had participated in community volunteer work in the preceding year and 23% took part in community volunteer work at least once a month. Collecting money for charities was reported by about a fifth (22%) of the panel members followed by sports-related activities (16%) and child care (11%). The change in the reports of participation in community volunteer work between ages 20 and 21 may partly reflect changes in the wording of the questions.
Participation in community volunteer work is widespread across all categories of young people. Overall levels of participation and participation for particular types of volunteer work, however, do vary among young people from different personal and cultural backgrounds. Those more likely to participate at least monthly in community volunteer work were (in descending order of influence):
- from the highest fifth of socioeconomic status backgrounds;
- from the more positive categories of self-concept;
- from families in which both parents had been born in Australia;
- women;
- in part-time work, part-time study, or both;
- Indigenous;
- better-performed at school;
- from rural areas; and
- young people with a disability.
The extent of variation across these characteristics, however, was often modest – persons from all backgrounds participate in community volunteer work. This report documents the detail of that participation across the different types of community volunteer work and across the different characteristics of young people in Australia.