הבדלים מגדריים בהסבר מחויבות להתנדבות בגל הראשון של מגפת הקורונה

This study examines gender differences in the commitment to volunteering and the sociocultural and psychological variables that explain volunteers’ commitment during the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in Israel. The indices of commitment to volunteering examined were: stability of volunteering, assessed by the tendency to continue volunteering; intensity of volunteering, measured by the frequency of volunteering over time; and cultivation of volunteering, assessed by the tendency to recommend volunteering to one’s acquaintances. The sociostructural and psychological characteristics approaches served as the theoretical bases for the study, which included 504 participants: 173 men and 331 women. Men were found to have higher overall levels of commitment to volunteering than women. Among women, instrumental motives and intrinsic satisfaction with volunteering were associated with intensity of volunteering, and fear of being infected with COVID-19 was associated with reduced intensity of volunteering. Among men, the motive to escape reality through volunteering was positively associated with intensity of volunteering, while the association between these variables was negative among women. It is recommended that volunteer organizations adopt a gender-sensitive approach when deploying volunteers during crises