Service-Learning and Transitioning to Adulthood

To examine the hypothesis that service-learning offers the potential to ease the transition to adulthood, as well as to explore other aspects of the transition to adulthood, the St. Paul-based National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) commissioned the Harris Interactive Youth and Education Research Group to conduct a two-part research project on how young adults are making the transition from youth to adulthood, and how service-learning impacts this transition. The National Survey on Service-Learning and Transitioning to Adulthood, conducted online in December 2005, is a nationally representative survey of 3,123 U.S. adults aged 18 to 28. The survey included young adults with a range of experience providing direct or indirect service: those with service-learning experience (service-learning youth), those with service experience that does not qualify as service-learning (service-only youth), and those with no service experience at all (no-service youth). To more deeply explore the service-learning experience, focus groups were conducted with 11th and 12th grade U.S. high school students currently involved in service-learning, as well as service-learning alumni ages 18 -24. This article summarizes the results. [author]