Research has shown that urban-residing African American women engage in volunteer work at impressive rates. However, few studies have empirically assessed the factors that account for volunteerism within this population. This study explores the relationship between demographic variables, early religious involvement, current religious involvement, empathy, perspective taking, and volunteer engagement among African American women residing in a large urban center (N = 211). Findings from multivariate analyses revealed that current religious involvement positively predicted women’s volunteer engagement. Age was found to negatively predict volunteer engagement but positively predict the number of hours women spend volunteering per year. The implications of these findings are discussed and future lines of research considered.
ArnettJ. J.BrodyG. H. (2008). A fraught passage: The identity challenges of African American emerging adults. Human Development, 51, 291-293.
2.
BatsonC. D. (2010). Empathy-induced altruistic motivation. In MikulincerM.ShaverP. R. (Eds.), Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior: The better angels of our nature (pp. 15-34). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
3.
BatsonC. D.BatsonJ. G.ToddR. M.BrummettB. H.ShawL.AldeguerC. M. R. (1995). Empathy and the collective good: Caring for one of the others in a social dilemma. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 619-631.
4.
BatsonC. D.OlesonK. C.WeeksJ. L.HealyS. P.ReevesP. J.JenningsP.BrownT. (1989). Religious prosocial motivation: Is it altruistic or egoistic?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 873-884.
5.
BekkersR. (2005). Participation in voluntary associations: Relations with resources, personality, and political values. Political Psychology, 26, 439-454.
6.
BillingsleyA. (1999). Mighty like a river: The Black church and social reform. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
7.
BillingsleyA.CaldwellC. H. (1991). The church, the family, and the school in the African American community. Journal of Negro Education, 60, 427-440.
8.
BorgonoviF. (2008). Divided we stand, united we fall: Religious pluralism, giving and volunteering. American Sociological Review, 73, 105-128.
9.
BridgesF.CoadyN. (1996). Urban size differences in incidence of altruistic behavior. Psychological Reports, 78, 307-312.
10.
CaldwellC.ChattersL.BillingsleyA.TaylorR. (1995). Church-based support programs for elderly Black adults: Congregational and clergy characteristics. In KimbleM.McFaddenS.EllorJ.SeeberJ. (Eds.), Aging, spirituality, and religion: A handbook (pp. 306-324). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
11.
CarsonE. (1990). Patterns of giving in Black churches. In WuthnowR.HodgkinsonV.and Associates (Eds.), Faith and philanthropy in America: Exploring the role of religion in America’s voluntary sector (pp. 232-252). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
12.
CashF. L. B. (2001). African American women and social action: The clubwomen and volunteerism from Jim Crow to the New Deal, 1896-1936. Westport. CT: Greenwood Press.
13.
CohenS. M.KapsisR. E. (1978). Participation of Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and Whites in voluntary associations: A test of current theories. Social Forces, 56, 1053-1071.
14.
DavisM. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113-126.
15.
DavisM. H.HallJ. A.MeyerM. (2003). The first year: Influences on the satisfaction, involvement, and persistence of new community volunteers. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 248-260.
16.
DavisM. H.MitchellK. V.HallJ. A.LothertJ.SnappT.MeyerM. (1999). Empathy, expectations, and situational preferences: Personality influences on the decision to participate in volunteer helping behaviors. Journal of Personality, 67, 469-503.
17.
DreweryM. P. (2008). Black megachurches and social services (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Information & Learning. (UMI No. 3305786).
18.
DuriezB. (2004). Are religious people nicer people? Taking a closer look at the religion-empathy relationship. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 7, 249-254.
19.
EinolfC. (2011). Gender differences in the correlates of volunteering and charitable giving. Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40, 1092-1112.
20.
EisenbergN.FabesR. A. (1998). Prosocial development. In DamonW. (Series Ed.) & EisenbergN. (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (5th ed., pp. 701-778). New York, NY: Wiley.
21.
FarmerG. L.PiotrkowskiC. S. (2009). African and European American women’s volunteerism and activism: Similarities in volunteerism and differences in activism. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 19, 196-212.
22.
FinkelsteinM. A.BrannickM. T. (2007). Applying theories of institutional helping to informal volunteering: Motives, role identity, and prosocial personality. Social Behavior and Personality, 35, 101-114.
23.
FinkelsteinM. A.PennerL. A.BrannickM. T. (2005). Motive, role identity, and prosocial personality as predictors of volunteer activity. Social Behavior and Personality, 33, 403-418.
24.
GilkesC. (1998). Plenty good room: Adaptation in a changing Black church. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: Americans and Religions in the Twenty-First Century, 558, 101-121.
25.
GilkesC. (2001). If it wasn’t for the women Black women’s experience and womanist culture in church and community. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
26.
GordonE. W. (2003). Urban education. Teachers College Record, 105(2), 189-207.
27.
GossK. (1999). Volunteering and the long civic generation. Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 28, 378-415.
28.
Hale-SmithA.ParkC. L.EdmondsonD. (2012). Measuring beliefs about suffering: Development of the views of suffering scale. Psychological Assessment, 24, 855-866.
29.
HigginbothamE. B. (1992). African American women’s history and the metalanguage of race. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 17, 251-274.
30.
HigginbothamE. B. (1997). The Black church: A gender perspective. In FulopT.RaboteauA. (Eds.), African American religion: Interpretive essays in history and culture (pp. 201-225). New York, NY: Routledge.
31.
HodgkinsonV. A.WeitzmanM. S. (1996). Giving and volunteering in the United States: Findings from a national survey. Washington, DC: Independent Sector.
32.
HoffmanM. L. (1981). Is altruism a part of human nature?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 121-137.
33.
JacksonJ. S. (Ed.). (1991). Life in Black America. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
34.
JacksonJ. S.TorresM.CaldwellC. H.NeighborsH. W.NesseR. M.TaylorR. J.…WilliamsD. R. (2004). The National Survey of American Life: A study of racial, ethnic, and cultural influences on mental disorders and mental health. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 13, 196-207.
35.
KalliopuskaM. (1994). Empathy related to living in towns versus the countryside. Psychological Reports, 74, 896-898.
36.
KulikL. (2010). Women’s experiences with volunteering: A comparative analysis by stages of the life cycle. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40, 360-388.
37.
LamP. (2002). As the flocks gather: How religion affects voluntary association participation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41, 405-422.
38.
LincolnC.MamiyaL. (1990). The Black church in the African American experience. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
39.
LittlefieldM. (2005). The Black church and community development and self-help: The next phase of social equality. Western Journal of Black Studies, 29, 687-693.
40.
MarkstromC. A.HueyE.StilesS. M.KrauseA. L. (2010). Frameworks of caring and helping in adolescence: Are empathy, religiousness, and spirituality related constructs?Youth & Society, 42, 59-80.
41.
MattisJ. S. (2002). Religion and spirituality in the meaning-making and coping experiences of African-American women: A qualitative analysis. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 309-321.
42.
MattisJ. S.BeckhamW. P.SaundersB. A.WilliamsJ. E.McAllisterD.MyersV.. . . DixonC. (2004). Who will volunteer? Religiousness, everyday racism, and social participation among African American men. Journal of Adult Development, 11, 261-272.
43.
MattisJ. S.HammondW. P.GraymanN.BonacciM.BrennanW.CowieS. A.. . . SoS. (2009). The social production of altruism: Motivations for caring action in a low-income urban community. American Journal of Community Psychology, 43, 71-84.
44.
MattisJ. S.JagersR. J.HatcherC. A.LawhonG. D.MurphyE. J.MurrayY. F. (2000). Religiousness, volunteerism, and community involvement among African American men: An exploratory factory analysis. Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 391-406.
45.
McRobertsO. M. (2003). Streets of glory: Church and community in a Black urban neighborhood. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
46.
MenckenF.FitzB. (2013). Image of God and community volunteering among religious adherents in the United States. Review of Religious Research, 55, 491-508.
47.
MilgramS. (1970). The experience of living in cities. Science, 167, 1461-1468.
48.
MusickM. A.WilsonJ.BynumW. B. (2000). Race and formal volunteering: The differential effects of class and religion. Social Forces, 78, 1539-1571.
49.
PalmeseF.SchmidtS. (2013). Empathy during the life span. TPM-Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 20, 169-183.
50.
ParkinsonL.WarburtonJ.SibbrittD.BylesJ. (2010). Volunteering and older women: Psychosocial and health predictors of participation. Aging & Mental Health, 14, 917-927.
51.
PennerL. A. (2002). Dispositional and organizational influences on sustained volunteerism: An interactionist perspective. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 447-467.
52.
PennerL. A.DovidioJ. F.PiliavinJ. A.SchroederD. A. (2005). Prosocial behavior: Multilevel perspectives. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 365-392.
53.
PennerL. A.FinkelsteinM. A. (1998). Dispositional and structural determinants of volunteerism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 525-537.
54.
PiliavinJ. A.CharngH. W. (1990). Altruism: A review of recent theory and research. American Sociological Review, 16, 27-65.
55.
RaboteauA. J. (1989). Down at the cross: Afro-American spirituality. U.S. Catholic Historian: Spirituality, Devotionalism, & Popular Religion, 8, 33-38.
56.
ReederG. D.DavisonD. M.GipsonK. L.Hesson-McInnisM. S. (2001). Identifying the motivations of African American volunteers working to prevent HIV/AIDS. AIDS Education and Prevention, 13, 343-354.
57.
ReisigM.CancinoJ. (2004). Incivilities in non-metropolitan communities: The effects of structural constraints, social conditions, and crime. Journal of Criminal Justice, 32, 15-29.
58.
RotoloT.WilsonJ. (2007). Sex segregation in volunteer work. The Sociological Quarterly, 48, 559-585.
59.
SamuelsA. (2011). The underserved aged and the role of the African American church. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 18(4), 129-133.
60.
SaroglouV.PichonI.TrompetteL.VerschuerenM.DernelleR. (2005). Prosocial behavior and religion: New evidence based on projective measures and peer ratings. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44, 323-348.
61.
SherrodL.DownsR. (1974). Environmental determinants of altruism: The effects of stimulus overload and perceived control on helping. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10, 468-479.
62.
SlevinK. F. (2005). Intergenerational and community responsibility: Race uplift work in the retirement activities of professional African American women. Journal of Aging Studies, 19, 309-326.
63.
StewartA.SettlesI.WinterN. (1998). Women and the social movements of the 1960s: Activists, engaged observers, and nonparticipants. Political Psychology, 19, 63-94.
64.
TaylorR. J.MattisJ.ChattersL. M. (1999). Subjective religiousness among African Americans: A synthesis of findings from five national samples. Journal of Black Psychology, 25, 524-543.
65.
TwengeJ. M. (2013). The evidence for generation me and against generation we. Emerging Adulthood, 1, 11-16. doi:10.1177/2167696812466548
66.
UngerL. S.ThumuluriL. K. (1997). Trait empathy and continuous helping: The case of voluntarism. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 12, 785-800.
67.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). Statistical abstract of the United States (131st ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
68.
WilsonJ. (2000). Volunteering. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 215-240.
69.
WilsonJ.JanoskiT. (1995). The contribution of religion to volunteer work. Sociology of Religion, 56, 137-152.
70.
YeungA. B. (2004). An intricate triangle—Religiousness, volunteering, and social capital: The European perspective, the case of Finland. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 33, 401-422.
