Abstract
Volunteerism makes critical contributions to individual lives and society as a whole. However, to date, few studies have investigated volunteerism within Latino communities, a large and growing US population. The aim of this study was to understand how non-metropolitan US Latinos perceive volunteerism, as well as to determine what motivates and what deters their participation in volunteer programs. Our research team conducted six focus groups with 36 Latina women living in the State of Illinois. The focus groups covered topics such as the definition of volunteerism, participation motives and barriers, personal volunteer experience, and Latino culture, community, and organizations. We also assessed demographic information. Results from this study indicate that Latinas have a unique understanding of the concept of volunteerism. Participants associated everyday “helping” with volunteerism, establishing commonplace forms of aid as perhaps a “Latino way of volunteering.” We found time-consuming activities such as family responsibilities and work to be deterrents to Latinas participating in more formal volunteer activities.
Résumé
Les individus et la société en général profitent grandement des retombées du bénévolat. Peu d’études ont cependant été menées à date sur le bénévolat au sein des communautés latinophones, une vaste population des É.-U. en croissance. Le but de la présente étude était de comprendre comment les Latinos-Américains des banlieues des É.-U. perçoivent le volontariat, ainsi que de cerner ce qui motive et mitige leur participation aux programmes de bénévolat. Notre équipe de recherche a dirigé six groupes de discussion comptant 36 Latinos-Américaines vivant dans l’État de l’Illinois. Ces groupes ont discuté de différents sujets, dont de la définition du bénévolat, de facteurs de motivation et d’obstacle à la participation, d’expériences bénévoles personnelles et de culture, communauté et organisations latinophones. Nous avons aussi évalué des données démographiques. Les résultats de cette étude démontrent que les Latinos-Américaines ont une compréhension unique du concept de bénévolat. Les participantes associaient « l’aide » apportée sur une base quotidienne au bénévolat, définissant ainsi des formes d’assistance courantes comme éventuel « geste latinophone bénévole » . Nous avons découvert que les activités chronophages comme les tâches familiales et le travail dissuadaient les Latinos-Américaines à participer à des activités bénévoles plus formelles.
Zusammenfassung
Im Rahmen ehrenamtlicher Tätigkeiten werden wichtige Beiträge für das Leben Einzelner sowie für die Gesellschaft insgesamt geleistet. Allerdings haben bis heute nur wenige Studien die ehrenamtliche Arbeit in lateinamerikanischen Gemeinden untersucht, einer großen und wachsenden Bevölkerungsgruppe in den USA. Ziel dieser Studie war es, zu einem Verständnis darüber zu gelangen, welche Einstellung Lateinamerikaner, die außerhalb großer U.S.-Städte leben, zu ehrenamtlichen Tätigkeiten haben, und zu bestimmen, was sie zur Teilnahme an ehrenamtlichen Programmen motiviert oder davon abhält. Unser Forschungsteam arbeitete mit sechs Fokusgruppen bestehend aus 36 lateinamerikanischen Frauen aus dem U.S.-Bundesstaat Illinois. Die Fokusgruppen behandelten Themen wie die Definition von ehrenamtlicher Arbeit, Motive und Hindernisse für ein Engagement, persönliche Erfahrung mit ehrenamtlicher Arbeit und lateinamerikanische Kultur, Gemeinschaft und Organisationen. Zudem wurden demografische Informationen ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie zeigen, dass lateinamerikanische Frauen ein einzigartiges Verständnis über das Konzept der ehrenamtlichen Arbeit haben. Die Teilnehmerinnen verbanden tägliches „Helfen“mit ehrenamtlicher Arbeit und erklärten generelle Formen der Hilfe vielleicht as eine „lateinamerikanische Art des ehrenamtlichen Engagements“. Es zeigte sich, dass zeitaufwendige Tätigkeiten, wie familiäre Verpflichtungen und Arbeit, die lateinamerikanischen Frauen daran hinderten, sich formell ehrenamtlich zu engagieren.
Resumen
El voluntariado realiza contribuciones cruciales a las vidas de los individuos y a la sociedad como un todo. Sin embargo, hasta la fecha, pocos estudios han investigado el voluntariado en las comunidades latinas, una amplia y creciente población estadounidense. El objetivo del presente estudio era comprender cómo los latinos estadounidenses no metropolitanos perciben el voluntariado, así como también determinar qué motiva y qué impide su participación en programas de voluntariado. Nuestro equipo de investigación dirigió seis grupos focales con 36 mujeres latinas que viven en el Estado de Illinois. Los grupos focales cubrieron temas tales como la definición de voluntariado, los motivos y las barreras para participar, la experiencia personal del voluntario, y la cultura, la comunidad y las organizaciones latinas. También evaluamos información demográfica. Los resultados de este estudio indican que las latinas tienen una comprensión singular del concepto de voluntariado. Los participantes asociaron la “ayuda” diaria con el voluntariado, estableciendo formas de ayuda comunes y corrientes como una “forma latina de voluntariado”. Encontramos que actividades prolongadas, como las responsabilidades familiares y el trabajo, disuadían a las latinas de participar en actividades de voluntariado más formales.
摘要
志愿服务为个人生活乃至整个社会做出了重要贡献。然而,迄今为止,关于拉丁美洲社区的志愿服务的研究为数甚少,而美国拉丁美洲裔人口庞大,而且正在增长。本研究的目的在于了解大都市之外的美籍拉丁美洲人是如何看待志愿服务的,同时还旨在探究促使以及阻碍他们参加志愿服务项目的原因。我们的研究团队建立了由居住在伊利诺州的36名拉丁美洲妇女所组成的关注组。关注组涵盖了各种话题,诸如志愿服务的定义、参与动机与障碍、个人志愿服务经验以及拉丁美洲的文化、社区与组织。同时,我们还对人口统计学信息进行了评估。本研究结果显示拉丁美洲人对于志愿服务这一概念有自己独特的理解。 参与者将日常“协助”与志愿服务相联系,认为平凡的帮助行为也许就是“拉丁美洲式的志愿服务”。我们发现诸如家庭责任与家庭工作之类的耗时活动对拉丁美洲人参与更加正式的志愿活动产生了一定妨碍作用。.
ملخص
العمل التطوعي يقوم بإسهامات حاسمة في حياة الأفراد والمجتمع ككل. مع ذلك، حتى الآن، عدد قليل من الدراسات حقق في العمل التطوعي داخل المجتمعات اللاتينية، التي عدد سكانها كبير ومتزايد في الولايات المتحدة. كان الهدف من هذه الدراسة هو أن نفهم كيف اللاتينيين في الولايات المتحدة الذين لا يسكنوا في المدينة يروا العمل التطوعي، كذلك لتحديد ما يحفز وما يمنع مشاركتهم في البرامج التطوعية. أجرى فريق البحث لدينا ست مجموعات تركيز مع 36 امرأة لاتينية اللاتي يعشن في ولاية إلينوي. مجموعات التركيز غطت موضوعات مثل تعريف العمل التطوعي، دوافع المشاركة والحواجز، الخبرة التطوعية الشخصية، والثقافة اللاتينية، المجتمع، والمنظمات. نحن أيضا نقوم بتقييم المعلومات الديموغرافية. نتائج هذه الدراسة تشير إلى أن اللاتينيات لديهم فهم فريد لمفهوم العمل التطوعي. المشاركون المترابطون يوميا” “يساعدوا” مع العمل التطوعي، يشكلون أشكال شائعة من المساعدات ربما على غرار “طريقة لاتينية للعمل التطوعي”. لقد وجدنا الأنشطة تستغرق وقت طويل مثل المسؤوليات الأسرية والعمل على أن تكون عائقة للاتينيات المشاركات في المزيد من الأنشطة التطوعية الرسمية.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychological Association, & Presidential Task Force on Immigration. (2012). Crossroads. The psychology of inmigration in the new century. http://www.apa.org/topics/immigration/report.aspx
Ayon, C. (2013). Service needs among Latino immigrant families: Implications for social work practice. Social Work, 59(1), 13–23. doi:10.1093/sw/swt031.
Barbour, R. (2013). Doing focus groups. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Behling, O., & Law, K. S. (2000). Translating questionnaires and other research instruments: Problems and solutions. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Inc.
Boyle, M. P., & Sawyer, J. K. (2010). Defining volunteering for community campaigns: An exploration of race, self perceptions, and campaign practices. Journal of Community Practice, 18, 40–57. doi:10.1080/10705421003753733.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.
Brudney, J. L. (1999). The effective use of volunteers: Best practices for the public sector. Law and Contemporary Problems, 62, 219–255. doi:10.2307/1192274.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2000). Reasons for working multiple jobs. http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/10/atissue.pdf
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014). Volunteering in the United States, 2014 technical note. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.tn.htm
Bussell, H., & Forbes, D. (2002). Understanding the volunteer market: The what, where, who and why of volunteering. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 7, 244–257.
Butcher, J. (2003). A humanistic perspective on the volunteer-recipient relationship: A Mexican study. In Paul Dekker & Loek Halman (Eds.), The values of volunteering: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 111–125). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Butcher, J. (2010). Conceptual framework for volunteer action and acts of solidarity. In Mexican solidarity: Citizen participation and volunteering (pp. 1–32). New York: Springer Publishing Company, LLC. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-1078-3_1
Campos, B., Ullman, J. B., Aguilera, A., & Dunkel Schetter, C. (2014). Familism and psychological health: The intervening role of closeness and social support. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 20, 191–201. doi:10.1037/a0034094.
Carson, E. (1999). On defining and measuring volunteering in the United States and abroad. Law and Contemporary Problems, 62, 67–71.
Christmas, C. N., & Barker, G. G. (2014). The immigrant experience: Differences in acculturation, intercultural sensitivity, and cognitive flexibility between the first and second generation of Latino immigrants. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 7(3), 238–257. doi:10.1080/17513057.2014.929202.
Christopher, S., Watts, V., McCormick, A. K. H. G., & Young, S. (2008). Building and maintaining trust in a community-based participatory research partnership. American Journal of Public Health, 98(8), 1398–1406. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.125757.
Clary, E. G., Snyder, M., Ridge, R. D., Copeland, J., Stukas, A. A., Haugen, J., & Miene, P. (1998). Understanding and assessing the motivations of volunteers: a functional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1516–1530. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1516.
Cnaan, R. A., Handy, F., & Wadsworth, M. (1996). Defining who is a volunteer: Conceptual and empirical considerations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 25, 364–383. doi:10.1177/0899764096253006.
Colby, S. L., & Ortman, J. M. (2015). Projections of the size and composition of the U.S. population: 2014 to 2060. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf
Cristancho, S., Garces, D. M., Peters, K. E., & Mueller, B. C. (2008). Listening to rural Hispanic immigrants in the Midwest: A community-based participatory assessment of major barriers to health care access and use. Qualitative Health Research, 18(5), 633–646. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-42249103624&partnerID=tZOtx3y1
DeNavas-Walt, C., & Proctor, B. D. (2014). Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013. Washington, DC. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2014/demo/p60-249.pdf
Fernandez-Morera, D. (2010). Ask a scholar: What is the true definition of Latino? https://www.nas.org/articles/Ask_a_Scholar_What_is_the_True_Definition_of_Latino
Finkelstein, M. A., Penner, L. A., & Brannick, M. T. (2005). Motive, role identity, and prosocial personality as predictors of volunteer activity. Social Behavior and Personality, 33, 403–418. doi:10.2224/sbp.2005.33.4.403.
Hacker, K. (2013). Community-based participatory research. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Haski-Leventhal, D. (2009). Altruism and volunteerism: The perceptions of altruism in four disciplines and their impact on the study of volunteerism. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 39, 271–299. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5914.2009.00405.x.
Hobbs, B. (2000). Recruiting and supporting Latino volunteers. http://oregon.4h.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/gallerix/albums/recruitingsupportinglatinovolunteers.pdf
Hobbs, B. (2001). Diversifying the volunteer base: Latinos and volunteerism. Journal of Extension, 39, 1–6.
Hustinx, L., Cnaan, R. A., & Handy, F. (2010). Navigating theories of volunteering: A hybrid map for a complex phenomenon. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 40, 410–434. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5914.2010.00439.x.
IBM. (n.d.). SPSS Software. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/
Kandel, W., & Newman, C. (2004). Rural Hispanics Employment and Residential Trends. http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/soc/ruralhispanics.pdf
Lam, M., Krenz, J., Palmandez, P., Negrete, M., Perla, M., Murphy-Robinson, H., & Spector, J. T. (2013). Identification of barriers to the prevention and treatment of heat-related illness in Latino farmworkers using activity-oriented, participatory rural appraisal focus group methods. BMC Public Health, 13, 1004–1025. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-1004.
Lindberg, N. M., Stevens, V. J., & Halperin, R. O. (2013). Weight-loss interventions for hispanic populations: The role of culture. Journal of Obesity, 2013, 1–6. doi:10.1155/2013/542736.
Long, J. M., Sovvell, R., Bairan, A., & Holtz, C. (2012). Exploration of commonalities and using focus group methodology: Implications in care for Latinos with tipe 2 diabetes. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 19(4), 133–142.
May, M. L., & Contreras, R. B. (2007). Promotor(a)s, the organizations in which they work, and an emerging paradox: How organizational structure and scope impact promotor(a)s’ work. Health Policy, 82, 153–166. doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2006.09.002.
Millard, A. V., Chapa, J., Burillo, C., Crane, K. R., Flores, I., Hogan, J., et al. (2004). Apple Pie and Enchiladas. Latinos newcomers in the rural Midwest. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Mora, G. C. (2013). Religion and the organizational context of immigrant civic engagement: Mexican Catholicism in the USA. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(11), 1647–1665. doi:10.1080/01419870.2012.664279.
Moua, M. (2010). Relationships Matter: Volunteerism in immigrant communities. Maplewood, MN. http://www.mavanetwork.org/resources/Documents/Relationships%20Matter%20Report%20FINAL.pdf
Parisi, D., & Lichter, D. T. (2007). Hispanic segregation in America’s new Rrural boomtowns population reference Bureau. http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2007/HispanicSegregation.aspx
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Two decades of developments in qualitative inquiry: A personal, experiential perspective. Qualitative Social Work, 1, 261–283. doi:10.1177/1473325002001003636.
Pew Research Center. (2011). Fighting poverty in a bad economy, Americans move in with relatives. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/10/03/fighting-poverty-in-a-bad-economy-americans-move-in-with-relatives/4/#chapter-3-demographics-of-multi-generational-households?src=prc-quiz
Pi, L.-L., Lin, Y.-H., Chen, C.-Y., Chiu, J.-C., & Chen, Y.-M. (2014). Serious leisure, motivation to volunteer and subjective well-being of volunteers in recreational events. Social Indicators Research., 119, 1485–1494. doi:10.1007/s11205-013-0562-x.
Population Reference Bureau. (2012). Fact sheet: The decline in U.S. fertility. http://www.prb.org/publications/datasheets/2012/world-population-data-sheet/fact-sheet-us-population.aspx
Portes, A. (1981). Modes of structural incorporation and present theories of labor immigrations. In M. M. Kritz, C. B. Keely, & S. M. Tomasi (Eds.), Global trends in migration (pp. 279–297). Staten Island, NY: CMS Press.
QSR International. (2014). NVivo 10 research software for analysis and insight. http://www.qsrinternational.com
Quintanilha, M., Mayan, M. J., Thompson, J., & Bell, R. C. (2015). Different approaches to cross-lingual focus groups: Lessons from a cross-cultural community-based participatory research project in the ENRICH study. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 14(5), 1–10. doi:10.1177/1609406915621419.
Ramakrishnan, S. K., & Viramontes, C. (2010). Civic spaces: Mexican hometown associations and immigrant participation. Journal of Social Issues, 66, 155–173. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01638.x.
Ramirez-Valles, J., & Brown, A. U. (2003). Latinos’ community involvement in HIV/AIDS: Organizational and individual perspectives on volunteering. AIDS Education and Prevention, 15, 90–104. doi:10.1521/aeap.15.1.5.90.23606.
Rhodes, S. D., Mann, L., Simán, F. M., Song, E., Alonzo, J., Downs, M., et al. (2015). The impact of local immigration enforcement policies on the health of immigrant hispanics/latinos in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 105(2), 329–337. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302218.
Rodríguez, A. (2013). The Latino assumption: A research note. Leisure Sciences, 35(2), 184–189. doi:10.1080/01490400.2013.761917.
Santo, R. M., Ribeiro-Ferreira, F., Alves, M. R., Epstein, J., & Novaes, P. (2015). Enhancing the cross-cultural adaptation and validation process: linguistic and psychometric testing of the Brazilian–Portuguese version of a self-report measure for dry eye. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 68, 370–378.
Serna, M. G. (2007). Voluntarios en México: Análisis de sus trayectorias de vida y razones para su participación [Volunteers in Mexico: Analysis of their life trajectories and reasons for participation]. In VI Conferencia Regional de ISTR para América Latina y el Caribe (pp. 1–16). Salvador de Bahía, Brasil.
Snyder, M., & Omoto, A. M. (2008). Volunteerism: Social issues perspectives and social policy implications. Social Issues and Policy Review, 2, 1–36. doi:10.1111/j.1751-2409.2008.00009.x.
South, J., Purcell, M. E., Branney, P., Gamsu, M., & White, J. (2014). Rewarding altruism: Addressing the issue of payments for volunteers in public health initiatives. Social Science and Medicine, 104, 80–87. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.11.058.
Spitz, R. T., & Mackinnon, J. R. (1993). Predicting success in volunteer community service. Psychological Reports, 73, 815–818. doi:10.2466/pr0.1993.73.3.815.
Stebbins, R. (2012). Unpaid work of love: defining the work–leisure axis of volunteering. Leisure Studies, 32, 1–7. doi:10.1080/02614367.2012.667822.
Taniguchi, H. (2006). Men’s and women’s volunteering: Gender differences in the effects of employment and family characteristics. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 35(1), 83–101. doi:10.1177/0899764005282481.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). 2010 United States Census. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/2010census/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). 2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk
Umaña-Taylor, A. J., & Bámaca, M. Y. (2004). Conducting focus groups with Latino populations: Lessons from the field. Family Relations, 53, 261–272.
Umaña-Taylor, A. J., & Updegraff, K. A. (2013). Latino families in the United States. In G. W. Peterson & K. R. Bush (Eds.), Handbook of marriage and the family (pp. 723–747). New York, NY: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-3987-5.
Valdez, A., Stewrat, S. L., Park Tanjasari, S., Levy, V., & Garza, A. (2015). Design and efficacy of a multilingual, multicultural HPV vaccine education intervention. Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 8, 106–118. doi:10.1179/1753807615Y.0000000015.
Van Slyke, D. M. (2003). The mythology of privatization in contracting for social services. Public Administration Review, 63, 296–315. doi:10.1111/1540-6210.00291.
Wang, L., Yoshioka, C. F., & Ashcraft, R. F. (2013). What affects Hispanic volunteering in the United States: Comparing the current population survey, panel study of income dynamics, and the AIM giving and volunteering survey. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 24(1), 125–148. doi:10.1007/s11266-012-9325-6.
Wiley, A., & Ebata, A. (2004). Reaching American families: Making diversity real in family life education. Family Relations, 53, 273–281.
Withers, M., Browner, C. H., & Aghaloo, T. (2013). Promoting volunteerism in global health: Lessons from a medical mission in Northern Mexico. Journal of Community Health, 38, 374–384. doi:10.1007/s10900-012-9627-z.
Wuthnow, R. (2013). Small-Town America: Finding community, shaping the future. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press.
Xie, Y., & Gough, M. (2011). Ethnic enclaves and the earnings of immigrants. Demography, 48, 1293–1315. doi:10.1007/s13524-011-0058-8.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Illinois Extension for supporting this study with funding from the University of Illinois Extension and Outreach Initiative and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture for awarding a Hatch Grant to A. Wiley (Project No. ILLU-793-321-0205791). Special thanks go to Amy Blumstein and the Abriendo Caminos Promotora Project Group for being actively involved in this project. The Abriendo Caminos Promotora Project Group includes Elizabeth Villegas, Sarai Coba, Marcela Vizcarra, Gisele Luty, and Ramona Montez.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Informed Consent
The Institutional Review Board at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign approved the study. A statement of informed consent was obtained from all participants before data collection.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schwingel, A., Wiley, A., Teran-Garcia, M. et al. More Than Help? Volunteerism in US Latino Culture. Voluntas 28, 162–183 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-016-9731-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-016-9731-2