Richard A. Sundeen

Family Life Course Status and Volunteer Behavior: Implications for the Single Parent:

This paper reports the findings of a study that examines the relationship between family life course status (based on marital status, parenthood, and age of youngest child) and volunteer behavior. Also, the impact of being a single parent on volunteering is examined. Married parents are more likely to volunteer generally and, specifically, in certain youth-oriented activities. However, the status of married-with-children is negatively associated with the aggregate number of hours volunteered, while there is a positive association between single parents with school-age children and hours devoted to certain activities. Single parents with preschool children have neither the social supports of married parents to share roles, nor the relative freedom enjoyed by single persons with no children or with school-age children, and are less likely to volunteer or devote time to organized volunteer activities.

Volunteering Among Teenagers in the United States

The characteristics of teenage volunteers are examined.

Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Volunteering to Organizations: A Comparison of African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Whites

This article reports the findings of a study of volunteering to organizations among native-born and immigrant African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Whites in the United States. The authors focus on the questions, do ethnic groups differ in their likelihood of volunteering, and are these differences a function of acculturation? The conceptual framework to explain formal volunteering includes acculturation, personal and social capital, gender, and age. Using logistic regression analysis, the authors find that acculturation explains formal volunteering only partially and differently among the groups and that each native-born and immigrant group has its own unique combination of predictors of volunteering.

Teenage Volunteers and Their Values

This article analyzes national survey data sponsored by the independent SECTOR and collected by the Gallup organization in 1991. The survey shows that values that favor charity and eschew material goals encourage volunteering, and also that youth from higher social classes are more likely to volunteer than those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Participation in religious activities and spiritual values are not related to the likelihood of volunteering. Although these findings help us to understand who volunteers, they also suggest strategies volunteer organizers may use to attract volunteers from underrepresented groups.

Explaining the Fear of Crime among International Students from Developing Countries: A Revised Model

This article examines thefear ofstreet crime among international students enrolled in a large urban university. The purpose of the article is to report whetherfactors generallyfound to be associated with thefear of crime in the United States (U.S.) are the samefor international students studying here, or if there are characteristics or experiences unique to international students that add to a model which attempts to explain the fear of cime. The results from a multiple regression analysis show thatfour variables were strongly correlated with feelings of safety in ones neighborhood. Two of them are unique to international students: number of months in the U.S. andfrequency of participation in cultural events and activities. The other two were comparative danger of ones neighborhood and perceived likelihood of local protection.

Cultural Diversity and High School Community Service: The Relationships between Ethnicity and Students’ Perceptions

This article reports the results of an analysis of the relationship between cultural statuses and the socialization of youth into civic roles. The data tell an interesting story regarding perceptions of community service program experiences among students from different racial/ethnic backgrounds and schools with different class and racial/ethnic characteristics. Findings from the quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal important similarities and differences among race/ethnic groups in their community service experiences that have direct theoretical, policy, and practical implications.

Response of Community Organizations to the Civil Unrest in Los Angeles

An analysis of four case studies provides evidence of a unique and short-term increase of resource dependence on community organizations by outside institutions in times of emergency. Outside institutions rely on community organizations as the primary service providers, sometimes temporarily replacing traditional service channels; they also depend on the advantages these organizations offer for the distribution of their own resources. A window of opportunity results for these organizations to advocate on behalf of their clientele, establish their own policies for distribution of resources, and expand and create programs. Policy implications are discussed, as well as the possible changes in these relationships in the long run.

Swedish juvenile justice and welfare

Abstract Swedish life, in general, and social welfare, in particular, are continually of interest to United States observers. This article describes juvenile justice and welfare in Sweden, especially as it relates to the idea of diverting juveniles from the official sanctioning process. The article includes a summary of child welfare board legislation and its current administrative structure, a description of the disposition process and its main actors and decision points — police, prosecutor, child welfare board and workers, community programs, training schools, and prisons - and suggestions for further research.

Urban Studies: A Learning Model.

Urban studies: a framework drawn from a theory of urban experience.

Coping With Crime in a Developing Country: The Fear of Crime in Port Moresby, Papau New Guinea

The purpose of this article is to describe the various responses to the crime problem in Port Moresby and to compare the fear of crime among three groups living in Port Moresby (college staff, college students, and senior level managers). Urban crime has become a major problem and a public issue in Port Moresby and the various responses to it are similar to those found in the U.S.: individual strategies for maintaining security, ad hoc collective measures among neighbors, pressure group demands, and political proposals. Three groups were compared on their levels of fear of four types of crime and the security precautions they took in order to protect themselves. It was found that the group with the most economic resources and greatest community cohesiveness had the lowest level of fear of crime. The group with the most fear tended to rely more on neighbors for assistance and took greater security precautions than the “low-fear” group. Also, the findings suggest that expatriates may have a lower level of f...