Indicator 71: Youth in Community Service

 

Why This Is Important

Community service projects enable young people to engage in real-life problem-solving
in their schools and communities. Volunteering and working in the community is one way
to help young people develop stronger bonds to their community, which can help to prevent
them from engaging in risky behaviors. Creating opportunities for community service is one
way communities can promote collaborative partnerships.

 

Where We Stand

This is another youth level indicator on which there has been little change over the time periods.
For 2005, 44% of all youth respondents stated that they spend some time doing a community
service related activity. As in past years, just under half 47% indicated that the activity was
organized through the school as a service learning activity. On average for those youth who
reported involvement in service activities (n=178), the time they spent per week was
approximately 3 hours. For these youth, similar to last year, females were significantly more
involved in service activity than males.

One of the Search Institutes developmental assets for youth is “Service to Others,” which is
defined as the young person serving in the community one hour or more per week. In 2003, the
Search Institute surveyed 6th to12th grade youth nationally and found that 48% of those surveyed
experienced this asset.

 

 

Data Sources and Context

This Maine Marks indicator is adapted from the work of the Search Institute
(www.search-institute.org) and their research into developmental assets of young
Why people. The developmental assets framework is popular with many who work in the
field of youth development. The data source for this indicator is a statewide random digit
dial telephone survey of Maine youth in grades 9 – 12 conducted by Critical Insights, a
strategic marketing research firm in Portland, Maine. A total of 402 youth participated in
the interviews for this 2005 report, interviews were completed by January 2006. The youth were
asked: “During any average week, do you spend time doing community service-related activities
(such as helping out at a hospital, daycare center, food shelf, youth program, community service
agency, or doing other things)?” If they answered ‘yes’, they were also asked: (a) During any
average week, approximately how many hours do you typically spend doing community service
– helping people in the community without getting paid for it?, and (b) Was this community
service program organized through your school as a service learning activity?” Due to funding
limitations, surveys were not conducted in 2003.

NOTE: For all years, only the data in the “all” column is statistically representative of
youth in this age group statewide; the gender and grade level breakdowns are provided for descriptivepurposes only and are not representative of all Maine youth in this age group.

National data comes from the Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors
Survey. This 2003 survey reached approximately 150,000 6th to12th grade youth in 202
communities across the United States. Complete results and explanation can be found at
http://www.search-institute.org/research/assets/assetfreqs.html.