Identifying Student Traits and Motives to Service-Learn: Public Service Orientation among New College Freshmen

Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, University of Georgia and the Institute of Higher Education. Treanor House, 1234 South Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA 30602. Tel: 706-542-6167; Fax: 706-542-6124; e-mail: jheoe@uga.edu; Web site: http://www.jheoe.uga.edu

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College Freshmen; Service Learning; Personality Traits; Student Motivation; Prosocial Behavior; Student Volunteers; Extracurricular Activities; Introductory Courses; United States Government (Course); Political Science; Required Courses; Student Surveys; Demography; Familiarity; Gender Differences; Racial Differences; Regression (Statistics)

1534-6102

Among college students, public service motives influence choice of major or job. Although the link between public service motives and prosocial behavior has been established among working adults, researchers have not adequately examined how these motives affect the reported behavior of precareer students. In this article, the authors explored how public service motives and certain demographic characteristics were related to the service orientation of college freshmen. More specifically, they examined whether public service motivation was related to a student's proclivity to enroll in service-learning courses and volunteer frequently. Results indicated that public service motives were positively associated with both curricular and extracurricular public service activities among first-year college students. Race and gender were found to be key traits affecting engagement. The implications of these findings for public service research and education are discussed.

As Provided

47

2016

EJ1086105