הקשר בין התנדבות של בני נוער בישראל בקהילה ובין מדדים של בריאותם ורווחתם

Various definitions have been found in the literature regarding volunteering. Volunteering is actually performed freely by the individual, without material or other compensation, and motivated by a certain idea or purpose, as well as by its value. The mental, physical, and social contribution of volunteering has been found to be significant in the process of adolescent development and promotion of adolescent health in various countries around the world. The goals of this study were threefold: 1) To examine the extent of volunteering among youth in Israel, the frequency of their participation and the types of volunteer work they perform; 2) To examine the relationship between participation in various types of volunteering and health and welfare indices among youth; 3) To examine the differences between types of volunteering and health and welfare indices among youth

This study is a quantitative cross-sectional study, based on a secondary analysis of HBSC 2014 data in Israel. The study population included over 16,251 students, aged 11–17, attending schools in State, State-Religious and State-Arab schools under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. The findings show that volunteering during adolescence is related to the mental, physical, and social health of the adolescent in a manner that benefits both society and youth, who are still developing. Consistent with the literature, our findings indicate that there is a positive relationship between volunteering among Israeli youth and overall health and welfare measures. Better subjective health status was found among those who volunteer in school, compared to those who volunteer in a non-school setting. A smaller advantage was found for youth who volunteer compared to non-volunteers with regard to anger. An inverse relationship was revealed between the weekly frequency of volunteering in a non-school framework and the frequency of headaches among the students. Volunteering among youth promotes better health and welfare compared to those who do not volunteer. Therefore, there is a need to encourage more volunteering in health-promoting frameworks, such as schools, with emphasis on certain activities.