The Influence of Parenting Styles on Early Adolescence Volunteering

Volunteer work among early adolescents has been largely neglected as a research topic. This study examines the influence parents have on their children’s volunteer activities when they are between 10 and 15, with a special focus on the difference made by parental styles. Data are drawn from a subsample of respondents in the U.K. Household Longitudinal Study. Controlling for parent’s volunteering, social class, and religiosity, sons are encouraged to volunteer by authoritative fathers and discouraged from volunteering by authoritarian fathers. Mothers’ parenting styles have no influence on their children’s volunteering, and permissive parenting by either parent has no influence on volunteering of either boys or girls.