Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T04:11:05.627Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Volunteerism, Health, and Civic Engagement among Older Adults*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Benjamin H. Gottlieb  and
Alayna A. Gillespie
Benjamin H. Gottlieb*
Affiliation:
University of Guelph
Alayna A. Gillespie
Affiliation:
University of Guelph
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to:/Les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: Benjamin H. Gottlieb, Ph.D., Psychology Department, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, (bgottlie@uoguelph.ca)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In North America, 40–50 per cent of older adults are actively involved as formal volunteers in providing diverse health and human services. We review empirical studies concerning older adults' motivations for volunteering, as well as the health and morale benefits they derive from this expression of altruism. Knowledge of the exact nature and amount of volunteer activity necessary to produce these effects is limited, and studies have yet to identify the behavioural and psychological mechanisms that are implicated. We propose that older adult volunteers may enjoy good health and longevity because being useful to others instills a sense of being needed and valued. We present several theoretical perspectives on the developmental significance of volunteering, discuss the challenges to volunteerism imposed by the baby boom cohort, and identify future research priorities.

Résumé

En Amérique du Nord, 40 à 50 pour cent des aînés participent activement à titre de bénévoles officiels à la prestation de divers services de santé et de services sociaux. Nous avons passé en revue des études empiriques sur les raisons motivant le bénévolat chez les aînés, ainsi que sur les bienfaits sur le moral et la santé que ces derniers tirent de cette expression d'altruisme. La connaissance de la nature exacte et du nombre d'activités bénévoles nécessaires pour produire ces effets est limitée, et les études n'ont pas encore permis de déterminer les mécanismes behavioristes et psychologiques en cause. Nous proposons que les aînés bénévoles pourraient jouir d'une bonne santé et vivre longtemps parce que, en étant utiles à d'autres, ils ont le sentiment qu'on a besoin d'eux et qu'ils sont appréciés. Nous présentons plusieurs points de vue théoriques sur l'importance du bénévolat au plan du développement personnel, discutons des défis imposés au bénévolat par la génération du baby-boom, et déterminons les priorités futures en matière de recherche.

Keywords

vieillissementbénévolataînésengagement civiquealtruismesantéagingvolunteerismolder adultscivic engagementaltruismhealth
Type
Policy and Practice Note/Note sur la politique et la pratique
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , Winter/Hiver 2008 , pp. 399 - 406
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Funding for this research was provided to the first author by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

References

Abel, E. (1991). Who cares for the elderly?. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
American Association of Retired Persons (2003). Time and money: An in-depth look at 45+ volunteers and donors. Washington, DC: American Association of Retired Persons.Google Scholar
Baines, D. (2004). Seven kinds of work-only one paid: Raced, gendered and restructured work in social services. Atlantis, 28(2), 19–28.Google Scholar
Baltes, P.B., Baltes, M.M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In Baltes, P.B., & Baltes, M.M. (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 1–34). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biggs, S. (2001). Toward a critical narrativity: Stories of aging in contemporary social policy. Journal of Aging Studies, 15, 303–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, S.L., Nesse, R.M., Vinokur, A.D., & Smith, D.M. (2003). Providing social support may be more beneficial than receiving it: Results from a prospective study of mortality. Psychological Science, 14(4), 320–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, W.M., Consedine, N.S., & Magai, C. (2005). Altruism relates to health in an ethnically diverse sample of older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 60B(3), P143–P152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carstensen, L.L., Isaacowitz, D.M., & Charles, S.T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54, 165–181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Choi, N.G., Burr, J.A., Mutchler, J.E., & Caro, F.G. (2007). Formal and informal volunteer activities and spousal caregiving among older adults. Research on Aging, 29, 99–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clary, E.G., & Snyder, M. (1999). The motivations to volunteer: Theoretical and practical considerations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(5), 156–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, S., & Wills, T. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310–357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dressel, P., Minkler, M., Yen, I. (1999). Gender, race, class, and aging: Advances and opportunities. In Minkler, M., & Estes, C.L. (Eds.), Critical gerontology: Perspectives for political and moral economy (pp. 275–294). Amityville, NY: Baywood.Google Scholar
Freedman, M. (2002). Civic windfall: Realizing the promise in an aging America. Generations, 26(2), 86–89.Google Scholar
Greenfield, E.A., & Marks, N.F. (2004). Formal volunteering as a protective factor for older adults' psychological well-being. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 59B(5), S258–S264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hainsworth, J., & Barlow, J. (2001). Volunteers' experiences of becoming arthritis self-management lay leaders: “It's almost as if I've stopped aging and become younger!”. Arthritis Care and Research, 45(4), 378–383.3.0.CO;2-T>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Handy, F., & Cnaan, R.A. (2007). The role of social anxiety in volunteering. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 18(1), 41–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, A.H.S., & Thoresen, C.E. (2005). Volunteering is associated with delayed mortality in older people: Analysis of the Longitudinal Study of Aging. Journal of Health Psychology, 10, 739–752.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvard School of Public Health/MetLife Foundation (2004). Reinventing aging: Baby boomers and civic engagement. Boston: Harvard School of Public Health, Center for Health Communication.Google Scholar
Holstein, M.B., & Minkler, M. (2003). Self, society, and the “new gerontology.”. Gerontologist, 43(5), 787–796.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Independent Sector (2001). Giving and volunteering in the United States. Washington, DC: Independent Sector.Google Scholar
Kahana, E., Midlarsky, E., & Kahana, B. (1987). Beyond dependency, autonomy, and exchange: Prosocial behavior in late-life adaptation. Social Justice Research, 1(4), 439–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koenen, K.C., Stellman, J.M., Stellman, S.D., & Sommer, J.F. (2003). Risk factors for course of posttraumatic stress disorder among Vietnam veterans: A 14-year follow-up of American legionnaires. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71(6), 980–986.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luoh, M., & Herzog, A.R. (2002). Individual consequences of volunteer and paid work in old age: Health and mortality. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 490–509.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martinson, M., & Minkler, M. (2006). Civic engagement and older adults: A critical perspective. Gerontologist, 46(3), 318–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClellan, W.M., Stanwyck, D.J., & Anson, C.A. (1993). Social support and subsequent mortality among patients with end-stage renal disease. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 4(4), 1028–1034.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Musick, M.A., & Wilson, J. (2003). Volunteering and depression: The role of psychological and social resources in different age groups. Social Science and Medicine, 56, 259–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Okun, M.A., & Schultz, A. (2003). Age and motives for volunteering: Testing hypotheses derived from socioemotional selectivity theory. Psychology and Aging, 18(2), 231–239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Statistics Canada (2001). 2000 National survey of giving, volunteering, and participating. Ottawa: Statistics Canada (Catalogue No. 71-542-XIE).Google Scholar
Tang, F. (2006). What resources are needed for volunteerism? A life course perspective. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 25, 375–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, J.A., Gorey, K.M., & Greenblatt, B. (1998). The beneficial effects of volunteering for older volunteers and the people they serve: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 47, 69–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, J., & Musick, M. (1997). Who cares? Toward an integrated theory of volunteer work. American Sociological Review, 62(5), 694–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Windsor, T.D., Anstey, K.J., & Rodgers, B. (2008). Volunteering and psychological well-being among young-old adults: How much is too much? Gerontologist, 48(1), 59–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed