Medical Students' Motivations to Volunteer: An Examination of the Nature of Gender Differences

A sample of medical students was surveyed using the Volunteer Functions Inventory, an instrument that assesses the importance of 6 possible motives to volunteer that range from altruistic and humanitarian concern for others to more self-interested, career-related motives. Researchers in the past have described mean differences and rank differences for gender. Profile analysis was conducted to assess the relative importance of each motive by gender. Women rated all motives higher than did men. The relative ranking of the importance of the motives was similar for both genders. Contrary to previous studies, women rated instrumental motives at least as high as did men. Both genders rated altruistic motives highly. The results of this study may be used to inform a training curriculum or advertising campaign aimed at increasing volunteer efforts.