Allen M. Omoto

Sustained helping without obligation: Motivation, longevity of service, and perceived attitude change among AIDS volunteers

A conceptual framework that identifies psychological and behavioral features associated with antecedents, experiences, and consequences of volunteerism is presented, and an inventory that measures 5 specific motivations for AIDS volunteerism is developed and cross-validated. Then a field study of 116 AIDS volunteers is presented in which a helping disposition, volunteer motivations, and social support (as antecedents), and personal satisfaction and organizational integration (as experiences) are used to predict duration of service over 2 1/2 years. Structural equation analyses indicate that dispositional helping influences satisfaction and integration but not duration of service, whereas greater motivation and less social support predict longer active volunteer service. The model is generalized to the prediction of perceived attitude change. Implications for conceptualizations of motivation, theoretical issues in helping, and practical concerns of volunteer organizations are discussed.

Considerations of Community: The Context and Process of Volunteerism

In this article, the authors examine the role of community in understanding volunteerism. First, the authors present a model of the volunteer process that identifies three stages (antecedents, experiences, consequences) and three levels of analysis (individual, organization, social system). Next, the authors propose two features of community—community as context for volunteerism and psychological sense of community—and articulate the implications of these features for the processes of volunteerism. Then, empirical evidence from studies of AIDS volunteers and their clients is reviewed that suggests (a) how communities and psychological sense of community encourage people to volunteer and connect with others and (b) how connecting to communities appears to be beneficial for the functioning of people living with HIV. Finally, the authors argue that explicit considerations of community can also contribute to understanding other forms of individual and collective action as well as broader civic and societal participation.

Prosocial emotions and helping: The moderating role of group membership

In this article, the authors introduce and test a group-level perspective on the role of empathy and interpersonal attraction in helping. In line with our predictions, Study 1, a longitudinal field study of 166 AIDS volunteers, confirmed that empathy was a stronger predictor of helping when the recipient of assistance was an in-group member than when that person was an out-group member. Also as hypothesized, attraction was a stronger predictor of helping when the recipient was an out-group member than when that person was an in-group member. Study 2 replicated and further extended these results in a laboratory experiment on spontaneous helping of a person with hepatitis. Strengthening the validity of the findings, in both studies the effects of empathy and attraction held up even when the authors statistically controlled for potential alternative predictors of helping. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for helping in intergroup contexts are discussed.

Volunteerism and the Life Course: Investigating Age-Related Agendas for Action

Combining a life course perspective with recent theorizing on motivationally related agendas for social behavior, this study investigated the purposes, expectations, and outcomes of adult hospice volunteers of varying ages. Specifically, support was found for the hypothesis that younger volunteers tend to be motivated by and to achieve outcomes related to interpersonal relationships, whereas older volunteers tend to be motivated to a greater extent by service or community obligation concerns. Furthermore, in hierarchical regression analyses predicting overall satisfaction, benefits relative to costs, commitment, and changes in self-esteem over 6 months of volunteer service, relationship-related variables demonstrated greater and significant predictive power for younger relative to older volunteers. Service-oriented variables, hypothesized to be more influential in predicting the outcomes of older volunteers, tended to be inconsistently related to these same outcomes. Discussion focuses on the theoretical significance of the findings for contemporary approaches to motivation and research on volunteerism and aging, as well as the practical implications of the results for volunteer recruitment, satisfaction, and retention.

Basic Research in Action Volunteerism and Society's Response to AIDS

An increasingly important component of societys response to the AIDS epidemic is the involvement of volunteers in caring for persons with AIDS. To understand this social phenomenon, we employed basic psychological theories in coordinated longitudinal and cross-sectional research on three stages of the volunteer process: antecedents of the decision to be a volunteer, experiences of volunteers and those with whom they work, and consequences for volunteers and for society. In this article, we draw upon portions of data collected from currently active AIDS volunteers to illustrate the linkages between basic research and practical problems. We discuss the ways that basic theory can both guide research on societally important issues and be informed by such research conducted in applied contexts. Finally, we relate our approach to the Lewinian tradition of action research.

Personality and motivational antecedents of activism and civic engagement.

This article conceptually links theory and research on volunteerism to different forms of political activity, specifically activism and civic engagement. Multiple perspectives and measures of personality as antecedents of volunteerism, activism, and civic engagement are outlined, including individual differences in motivations, interpersonal orientations, and traits. Next, self-report data from 624 people involved in AIDS service organizations (as clients, volunteers, staff, or supporters) are utilized to empirically explore the best personality predictors of AIDS activism and civic engagement. Other-focused rather than self-focused motivation better predicted AIDS activism and civic engagement. The only measure of interpersonal orientation consistently related to these outcomes was communal orientation; as well, only the trait of extraversion was related to both outcomes. In analyses testing the predictive power of constellations of personality measures, other-focused motivation better predicted AIDS activism and civic engagement than the other measures of motivation, interpersonal orientation, and traits. Finally, meditational analyses supported a developmental sequence in which other-focused motivation leads to specific activism, which, in turn, encourages broader civic engagement. The discussion focuses on theoretical implications for understanding the impact of personality on different forms of citizenship behaviors and of the applicability of the Volunteer Process Model for studying political activity and civic engagement.

Too Many of a Good Thing? The Effects of Multiple Motivations on Stress, Cost, Fulfillment, and Satisfaction

Individuals engage in behaviors to satisfy motivations and can engage in the same behavior to satisfy a variety of different motivations. Previous research has examined how differences in the overall amount of motivation influence outcomes but has not addressed how differences in the number of conceptually distinct motivations one has for a particular action influence outcomes. In two longitudinal field studies, individuals with more than one motivation for volunteering experienced greater negative outcomes than did those who volunteered to satisfy a single motivation. A laboratory study manipulated the number of motivations individuals had for engaging in a volunteer activity. Individuals with two motivations reported greater negative outcomes than did those with one motivation. The importance of these findings for understanding the linkages of motivation and action in self-regulated behaviors is discussed.

Individual Differences in Predicting Behavioral Intentions from Attitude and Subjective Norm

The relations between attitude toward the act and subjective norm to behavioral intentions were examined from an individual difference perspective. High- and low-self-monitoring American undergradu...

Community Connectedness, Challenges, and Resilience Among Gay Latino Immigrants

To date, relatively little psychological research has focused on the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Latino/a immigrants to the United States. This qualitative study used face-to-face semi-structured interviews to explore the unique sources of stress, challenges, as well as opportunities and factors related to resilience among 13 gay Latino first- and second-generation immigrants. Iterative coding of interview transcripts revealed four key themes, each of which is illustrated with verbatim quotes: (1) feelings of connectedness to the LGBT community, (2) feelings of connectedness to the Latino/a community, (3) intersectional challenges and strategies, and (4) well-being, strength, and resilience. As suggested by these themes, gay Latino immigrants have distinct sources of stress and conflict, many of them associated with community memberships, but also draw on unique sources of support and adaptive thoughts and behaviors in facing stressors. Implications for studying risk and resilience factors among stigmatized populations, including LGBT individuals and immigrants, are discussed.

Getting to know nature: evaluating the effects of the Get to Know Program on children’s connectedness with nature

People in industrialized countries may be losing their connection with nature. The Get to Know Program (Get to Know) is a multi-faceted program aimed at encouraging direct connection with nature through a variety of activities (observations of wildlife, hiking, creative arts, and special events), specifically among youth. Three studies assessed the effects of three Get to Know program activities on youth’s implicit connectedness with nature (measured using a computer based game). Participants were youth recruited from southern California schools or youth organizations. Participation in the Get to Know Program’s Creative Arts Contest was associated with increased implicit connectedness with nature. However, participation in the Get to Know Natural Treasure Adventure and Virtual Hike did not have an effect on connectedness with nature. Implications of these findings are important for agencies seeking to find effective tools for outreach focused on connecting participants with nature.