Volunteering is often seen as an essential element in active citizenship and community participation, and existing literature suggests that those who volunteer young are more likely to volunteer through later stages of life. Analysis of Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), which identified factors that contribute to volunteering for Australian school students between 16-20, found that the following four variables that significantly contributed to volunteering activity: (1) gender girls spend more time volunteering than boys; (2) socioeconomic status higher socioeconomic groups are more socially engaged and access public knowledge through print media more frequently than those of lower socioeconomic groups; (3) home language respondents' whose mothers were born in non-English speaking countries volunteered less; and (4) size of home community those from non-metropolitan communities volunteered more than those from metropolitan communities. In addition, those who remained in school volunteered more than those who left school, and boys were more likely to volunteer if they were pessimistic about their futures while girls were more likely to volunteer if they were optimistic about theirs. Suggestions for future research include determining why young people begin and continue to volunteer, and whether the rising number of hours in paid employment by young people has an impact on the propensity to volunteer. (Contains 7 tables, 3 figures, and 17 references.) (MO)