By Liat Kulik
School of Social Work,Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Experiences with volunteer activity and resources for volunteering were examined among women volunteering in social service organizations, as reflected in two groups of variables that represent positive and negative experiences. The resources examined were family support for volunteer activity and empowerment in volunteering. The sample comprised 201 Israeli women at four life stages: adolescence, young adulthood, middle age and late adulthood. The findings revealed that experiences with volunteer activity were more positive among women in late adulthood and midlife than among those in the group of adolescents. Women in the oldest group also reported greater satisfaction and empowerment than did the adolescents, whereas levels of burnout were higher among women in the oldest group than among the adolescents. However, the sense of contributing to others was higher among the adolescents than among the women in the other age groups. The middle-aged women reported lower levels of family support for volunteer activity than did those in the oldest group. In addition, differences were found among women in the respective age groups with regard to difficulties encountered in volunteer activity.