A Functional Analysis of Secondary School Students’Motives for Volunteering

Abstract

This investigation examined whether or not a functional analysis was useful in understanding the motives for secondary school students’ motives for volunteering. Specifically, we coded comments from fifteen student interviews into the following five functions: value-expressive, social-adjustive, ego-defensive, knowledge, and social-affirming. We calculated the percentages of students whose responses included each of the five functions and found that the students’ responses were consistent with a functional analysis. The implication of these findings for the creation of a Volunteer Functions Inventory for students is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)