College Students’ Moral and Prosocial Responsibility: Associations with Community Engagement Experiences

Background: Social responsibility and democratic citizenship are essential outcomes of a college education. Yet limited research has examined how college experiences may relate to students’ moral and prosocial development, qualities that ground responsibility and citizenship. Purpose: This research sought to identify the college experiences, including six types of community engagement, associated with moral and prosocial developmental outcomes. Methodology/Approach: Participants (n = 675) completed a survey consisting of items addressing their college experiences, attitudes and beliefs concerning social inequity and responsibility toward others, and six moral and prosocial outcomes. Blocked regression models assessed relationships between predictor variables (experiences and attitudes/beliefs) and the outcomes. Findings/Conclusions: Participation in public service was the only community engagement experience to predict any of the six outcomes. Rather, the attitudes and beliefs students hold seem to have a much greater relationship with moral and prosocial outcomes. Implications: Students’ existing attitudes and orientations to moral and prosocial concerns may determine which types of community engagement experiences they are attracted to and how these experiences may influence students’ development. Colleges and universities should therefore provide multiple modes of participation in community engagement rather than assuming a single type of engagement fosters all students’ development.