Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

College of Education and Human Services

Department

Learning Sciences and Human Development

Committee Chair

Carol Markstrom.

Committee Co-Chair

Jessica Troilo

Committee Member

Nancy Wolfe-Dilgard

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to fill a current gap in the literature on the impacts of adolescents' participation in adult sponsored volunteer programs on identity formation and self-efficacy. Data were collected from 28 adolescents in grades 7-12 enrolled in an 11-week summer adult sponsored volunteer program. Participants completed pre-and posttest measures that included the Identity Style Inventory-Grade 6 (ISI-6G), the fidelity subscale of the Psychosocial Inventory of Ego Strength (PIES), and the General Self-Efficacy Scale. The current study proposed five hypotheses: (1) adolescents who participate in an adult sponsored volunteer program will have higher levels of the informational style of identity posttest compared to pretest; (2) adolescents who participate in an adult sponsored volunteer program will have lower levels of normative and diffuse/avoidant identity styles posttest compared to pretest; (3) adolescents who participate in an adult sponsored volunteer program will have higher levels of commitment posttest compared to pretest; (4) adolescents who participate in an adult sponsored volunteer program will have higher levels of the ego strength of fidelity posttest compared to pretest; and (5) adolescents who participate in an adult sponsored volunteer program will have higher levels of self-efficacy posttest compared to pretest. The results indicated significant findings for identity orientation, commitment, fidelity, and self-efficacy supporting hypothesis 1, 3, 4, and 5; whereas, hypothesis 2 was found to be non-significant. Additionally, the reliability of the measures assured accurate assessment of the measures. These findings make it plausible that adult sponsored volunteer programs support positive identity development and increased self-efficacy of adolescents.

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