Project info
Project name
2.5 Family Members Stimulating Community Involvement
Work package
- Care
Sustainability threat
- Spillovers
Challenge
- Facilitating work life balance
Study info
Description of Study
Informal volunteering is seen as an important indicator of social relations and community life. We therefore investigate the impact of various socialization practices on informal volunteering, being small helping behaviours outside of organizations for people outside the household. From theoretical notions on socialization, we hypothesize that experiencing extensive prosocial socialization practices promotes informal volunteering. We examine socialization processes of both modelling and encouragement and consider two socializing agents: parents and partners. We test our expectations employing the sixth wave of the Family Survey Dutch Population (N = 2464) that included unique measures on socialization as well as informal volunteering and holds important control variables. Our results indicated that parental modelling,partner modelling and partner encouragement were all positively related to informal volunteering, but that parental encouragement was not significantly related to informal volunteering. Our paper, thus, underscores that socialization practices are relevant in nurturing social relations and community life.
Study research question
To what extent do modelling and encouragement by parents and the partner promote informal volunteering?
Collection provenance
- External data
Collection methods
- Questionaire
Personal data
-
External Source
Source description
I mainly used data from the Family Survey Dutch Population project (202). To supplement these data, I used various core studies, namely Religion and Ethnicity (2013-2017), Family and Household (2008-2017), Personality (2014-2018) and Social Integration and Leisure (2015-2017)
File formats
- SPSS file
Data types
- Structured
Languages
Coverage start
Coverage end
01/01/2017
31/12/2018
Spatial coverage
the Netherlands
Collection period start
02/10/2017
Collection period end
26/06/2018
Variables
Unit
Unit description
Sample size
Sampling method
Individuals
Dutch speaking individuals between the ages of 18 and 70
Two samples: one with all individuals (N=2464) and one with partnered individuals (N=1475)
Random sample of the LISS panel
Hypothesis
Theory
If parents volunteered formally during individuals’ youth, those individuals will engage more in informal volunteering in adulthood
Socialization theories; observational learning (Bandura, 1977)
Individuals whose partner is a formal volunteer will engage more in informal volunteering than individuals whose partner is not a formal volunteer
Socialization theories; observational learning (Bandura, 1977)
the more parents encouraged prosocial behaviour, the more individuals will engage in informal volunteering in adulthood
Socialization theories
the more the partner encourages prosocial behaviour, the more individuals will engage in informal volunteering
Socialization theories
Variable type
Variable name
Variable description
Dependent variable
Informal volunteering
How often individuals have helped their friends and neighbors with among others chores, childcare and transport in the past twelve years
Independent variable
Parental encouragement
Two items on whether the parents encouraged helping and being considerate of others
Independent variable
Parental modelling
Whether parents volunteered for an organization when the respondent was 15 years old
Independent variable
Partner encouragement
Two items on whether the partner encourages helping and being considerate of others
Independent variable
Partner modelling
whether the respondents' partner volunteered
Control variable
Gender
male/female
Control variable
Age
in years
Control variable
Being religious
yes/no
Control variable
Employment status
full time employed/part time employed/non-employed
Control variable
Education
in years
Control variable
Core discussion network size
no. persons in core discussion network
Control variable
Health
poor health vs. non-poor health
Control variable
Household income
divided by 100 for interpretation | dummy variable for missing value
Control variable
Having a partner
yes/no
Control variable
Parental education
in years|dummy variable for missing value
Control variable
Relationship duration
in years
Control variable
Number of children
—
Control variable
Partner's education
in years | dummy variable for missing value
Control variable
Partner's employment
fulltime/part time/non-employed
Discipline-specific operationalizations
Conflict of interest
-
Data packages
Family Survey Dutch Population (FSDP)
Data package DOI
https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-xah-fukw
Description
The study ‘Family Survey Dutch Population’ (FSDP) provides a representation of what is happening in the Netherlands and how the situation of the Dutch is.
Accessibility
Restricted Access
Repository
LISS data archive
User license
Retention period
Publications
Informal Volunteering and Socialization Effects: Examining Modelling and Encouragement by Parents and Partner
Published in Voluntas
In de etalage: De invloed van socialisatie door ouders en de partner op informeel vrijwilligerswerk
Published in Mens & Maatschappij
Documents
Filename
Description
Date
—
Ethics
Ethical assessment
Unknown
Ethical committee