The Journal of Higher Education

This study investigates shifts in community service participation from high school to college in a sample of 6,491 members of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) cohort who were surveyed two years out of high school. Two theories informed the inquiry: social participation theory distinguishes between core and segmental volunteers, while transition theory emphasizes the importance of personal, social, and contextual resources in managing change.