Abstract
The present study examined the association between community service and identity development in middle adolescence. The quantitative component of the study was first conducted to investigate the relationships between service experience and identity status. The qualitative component followed to explore how service change their identities. The findings showed that community service duration differentiated the middle adolescents with more mature identity statuses (e.g., achievement) from those with less mature identity statuses (e.g., diffusion) after students’ gender, grade, attitude toward service and their parents’ service engagement were controlled. This study also revealed that exposure to community service was effective in facilitating adolescents’ identity development in the domains of occupation and lifestyle. High-impact practices were recommended for the future design of service programs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 827-847 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Self and Identity |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| Early online date | 19 Aug 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Funding
The authors acknowledge the University Grant Council of Hong Kong for its support through the General Research Fund (GRF18603515).
Keywords
- Chinese
- Identity formation
- community service
- middle adolescence
