Social psychology and personality theorists have proposed that our understanding of prosocial behavior will be enhanced by examining the interplay of traits and motives. Th e present study was designed to test several pathways by which agreeableness, extraversion, and prosocial value motivation to volunteer infl uence volunteerism. A sample of 796 college students completed measures of the Big Five traits, prosocial value motivation to volunteer, and volunteering. Results of path analyses showed that prosocial value motivation to volunteer partially mediated the relations between agreeableness and extraversion, and volunteering. Furthermore, as agreeableness decreased, extraversion was more strongly related to prosocial value motivation to volunteer. In contrast, there was no support for the pathway in which extraversion and prosocial value motivation to volunteer jointly aff ect volunteering. Discussion focuses on the utility of examining the links among traits and motives in predicting volunteering.

Addressing a previous gap in the gerontological literature, the present study examined the effects of both positive and negative social exchanges within key relationships (spouse, children, and other relatives/friends) on the depressive symptoms of younger (28 to 59 years old) and older (60 to 92 years old) men and women. Separate analyses were carried out on younger adults (N = 452) and older adults (N = 849) who were respondents in the Americans' Changing Lives study. In both age groups, positive and negative social exchanges with the same source were significantly (p < .001), inversely related (rs range from -.23 to -.43); and positive social exchanges exerted stronger net effects on depressive symptoms than negative social exchanges. For older adults, some buffering effects were found when negative and positive social exchanges were associated with different sources; for younger adults, buffering effects were found when negative and positive social exchanges were associated with the same source. These buffering effects were not conditioned by gender. The findings of the present study highlight the importance of taking into account the age of the recipient and the provider-recipient relationship when studying the joint influence of negative and positive social exchanges on adults' depressive symptoms.

Following a quantitative review examining the relative influence of positive and negative social exchanges on emotional health, a second-order factor model of negative social exchange was tested and supported in a sample of 906 college students. Structural equation analysis exploring the unique effects of negative social exchange and perceived support satisfaction on depression revealed both variables to predict this outcome, over and above the contribution of personality and coping variables. In addition to the direct effects of the Big Five personality dimensions on depression, indirect effects of the Big Five via negative social exchange, support satisfaction, and avoidant coping also were observed. Although the prevailing belief among support researchers is that the negative effects of conflictual social interactions outweigh the positive effects of social support, the results of the quantitative review suggest boundary conditions that qualify this conclusion. In addition to corroborating a hierarchical measurement model of negative social exchange, the results of the present investigation suggest that how social support and social negativity are measured substantially influences conclusions concerning their relative impact on psychological distress.

Following a meta-analysis of the relations between age and volunteer motives (career, understanding, enhancement, protective, making friends, social, and values), the authors tested hypotheses derived from socioemotional selectivity theory regarding the effects of age on these volunteer motives. The Volunteer Functions Inventory was completed by 523 volunteers from 2 affiliates of the International Habitat for Humanity. Multiple regression analyses revealed, as predicted, that as age increases, career and understanding volunteer motivation decrease and social volunteer motivation increases. Contrary to expectations, age did not contribute to the prediction of enhancement, protective, and values volunteer motivations and the relation between age and making friends volunteer motivation was nonlinear. The results were discussed in the context of age-differential and age-similarity perspectives on volunteer motivation.

Four measurement models of the structure of motivation to volunteer were evaluated in 2 samples of older (minimum age = 50 years), active volunteers. Motivation to volunteer was assessed with the Volunteer Functions Inventory. Whereas no support was found for either unidimensional or bipartite models, qualified support was observed for both 6-factor and 2nd-order factor models. The best fit of the data was obtained with the 6-factor model of motivation to volunteer (career, enhancement, protective, social, understanding, and values). Contrary to the prediction derived from the 2ndorder factor model, the 6 volunteer motives were differentially related to demographic variables and number of hours spent volunteering for the organization during the past year. Implications for assessing motivation to volunteer among older adults and recruiting older adults as volunteers are discussed.

A meta-analysis was conducted of the health/subjective well-being relationship, based upon studies of United States adults published prior to 1980. Dependent variables were zero-order and first-order correlations. A total of 231 zero-order effect size estimates were extracted from 104 different sources, while a total of 189 first-order effect sizes were extracted from thirty-three different sources. The majority of effect sizes were derived from samples where the midpoint of the age range was sixty-five and over. The 95 percent confidence interval estimates, generated using Tukey's jackknife procedure, were .29 to .35 and .29 to .38 for the zero-order and first-order correlations, respectively. Using weighted regression procedures, univariate analyses indicated that all but one study and sample characteristics were significant (p less than .05) predictors of zero-order and first-order correlations, though none of the predictors adequately specified variation in effect sizes. The mean value of the first-order correlations varied with the type of control variable, ranging from .42 (age) to .27 (SES composite). Health and subjective well-being were found to be positively and significantly related. Limitations of the meta-analysis were noted and suggestions were made for strengthening research on this topic.

The factor structure of positive and negative social ties was studied among 246 older adults who were either recently physically disabled, recently conjugally bereaved, or matched controls. Covariance structure analyses were carried out on a network measure to determine whether positive and negative social ties represent independent domains of social experience, and to assess the degree to which their structure is invariant across groups undergoing major loss transitions. Positive and negative social ties were found to be independent and there was substantial similarity in their factor structure across the three groups. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, whereas positive social ties were related to psychological well-being, negative social ties were predictive of both psychological well-being and distress. These results demonstrate the importance of assessing both positive and negative ties in explaining the psychological adjustment of older adults.

Organizational volunteering has been touted as an effective strategy for older adults to help themselves while helping others. Extending previous reviews, we carried out a meta-analysis of the relation between organizational volunteering by late middle-aged and older adults (minimum age = 55 years old) and risk of mortality. We focused on unadjusted effect sizes (i.e., bivariate relations), adjusted effect sizes (i.e., controlling for other variables such as health), and interaction effect sizes (e.g., the joint effect of volunteering and religiosity). For unadjusted effect sizes, on average, volunteering reduced mortality risk by 47 percent with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 38% to 55%. For adjusted effect sizes, on average, volunteering reduced mortality risk by 24 percent with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 16% to 31%. For interaction effect sizes, we found preliminary support that as public religiosity increases, the inverse relation between volunteering and mortality risk becomes stronger. The discussion identified several unresolved issues and directions for future research.Key words: volunteering, mortality, moderation Word count: 11,472 Volunteering and Mortality 3Volunteering by Older Adults and Risk of Mortality: A Meta-Analysis Using insights generated from evolutionary theory, Brown and her colleagues (Brown & Brown, 2006;Brown, Nesse, Vinokur, & Smith, 2003) advanced the hypothesis that helping behavior, whatever its effect on the recipient, promotes the psychological wellbeing and health of the helper. Providing assistance to another improves relationship satisfaction and enhances stress regulation . Brown and her colleagues have shown that helping behavior among older adults is associated with accelerated recovery from depressive symptoms that accompany spousal loss (Brown, Brown, House, & Smith, 2008) and reduced mortality risk (Brown et al., 2003) even among caregivers (Brown, Smith, et al., 2009). An independent research team, using a sample of over a thousand older adults from New York City, reported similar findings for morbidity (Brown, Consedine, & Magai, 2005).Prosocial behaviors refer to intentional efforts to provide assistance to another individual or communities. Planned prosocial activities include caregiving, providing support to others, contributing to other church-goers, and volunteering. Organizational or formal volunteering is an unpaid, voluntary activity that involves ". . . taking actions within an institutional framework that potentially provides some service to one or more other people or to the community at large" (Piliavin & Siegl, 2007, p. 454). In the current meta-analysis, we examine the relation between organizational volunteering and risk of mortality among adults 55 years old and older.We chose to focus exclusively on organizational volunteering because, in contrast to helping familiar others and engaging in social activities with familiar others in informal social contexts, organizational volunteering entails helping unfamiliar others i...