What Makes Us Help? The Surprising Roots of Volunteering

Why do some people volunteer their time while others don't? To find out, researchers looked at the childhoods of over 200,000 people across 22 different countries. They asked about everything from relationships with parents and family finances to religious upbringing and difficult experiences like abuse.

“Altruism can be born of suffering, as people who have known hardship turn their pain into purpose.”

What they discovered paints a complex picture of what motivates us to help. The single biggest predictor of adult volunteering was attending religious services as a child. The more frequently someone attended services at age 12, the more likely they were to volunteer later in life. Other positive experiences also played a role: having a good relationship with your father and growing up in a financially comfortable home were both linked to more volunteering.

But the story isn't just about happy childhoods. In a surprising twist, the study found that people who experienced physical or sexual abuse, or who felt like an outsider growing up, were also more likely to volunteer as adults. Researchers suggest this could be a form of “altruism born of suffering,” where people who have gone through hardship develop a deep sense of empathy and a desire to help others, turning their pain into purpose. This pattern, however, wasn't the same everywhere. The study found that the strength of these connections varied a lot from country to country, showing that culture plays a huge role in shaping who we become and how we contribute to our communities.