A Habit of Social Action: Understanding the Factors Associated with Adolescents Who Have Made a Habit of Helping Others

Abstract

Youth social action—activities such as volunteering, campaigning, and fundraising—has gained traction in the UK and internationally in recent years as governments have supported initiatives to encourage adolescents to develop a ‘habit’ of social action. However, there is not convincing evidence on what a habit of social action is. This study involved a questionnaire with 4518 16–20-year-olds in the UK and finds that moral and civic virtue identity, perceived behavioural control, goal direction, and subjective norms are related to a habit of youth social action. A key contribution of this study is the development and application of a new measure of virtue identity—the Virtue Identity Measure—to which we pay particular attention in this article.