Does volunteering moderate the relation between functional limitations and mortality?

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that functional limitations increase, and organizational volunteering decreases, the risk of mortality in later life. However, scant attention has been paid to investigating the joint effect of functional limitations and organizational volunteering on mortality. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that volunteering moderates the relation between functional limitations and risk of mortality. This prospective study used baseline survey data from a representative sample of 916 non-institutionalized adults 65 years old and older who lived in the continental United States. Data on mortality were extracted six years later from the National Death Index. Survival analyses revealed that functional limitations are associated with an increased risk of dying only among participants who never or almost never volunteered, suggesting that volunteering buffers the association between functional limitations and mortality. We conclude that although it may be more difficult for older adults with functional limitations to volunteer, they may receive important benefits from doing so.

Helping hands, healthy body? Oxytocin receptor gene and prosocial behavior interact to buffer the association between stress and physical health

“…Our findings add to a growing literature that indicates that prosocial behavior bolsters physical health, and that it specifically does so by buffering the association between stress and health (Brown et al, 2008;Krause, 2006;Okun et al, 2010;Poulin et al, 2012). However, our findings also extend prior research by suggesting a plausible mechanism for the effects of prosocial behavior: the function of the neurohormone oxytocin.…”

“…Helping or supporting others predicts reduced associations between stress and mortality (Krause, 2006;Okun et al, 2010;Poulin et al, in press) as well as depression (Brown et al, 2008). Laboratory research indicates that people respond to acute stress by increasing their prosocial behavior (von Dawans et al, in press), and that helping behavior reduces physiological response to stress (e.g., Floyd et al, 2007), raising the possibility that prosociality may serve as a coping strategy.…”

Factors related to low social participation in older adults: findings from the Fibra study, Brazil

“…Mobility is recognized as a basic living activity often compromised in older people 6,27,28 . Disability for walking independently has been related to several negative outcomes, including higher risk of mortality 29 .…”

Volunteering by older adults and risk of mortality: A meta-analysis.

“…These two-way interaction effects consisted of terms formed by multiplying scores on the volunteer variable by scores on a moderator variable. For example, Okun, August, Rook, and Newsom (2010) examined the joint effect of volunteering and functional health limitations on mortality risk. As indicated previously, two-way interaction effect sizes were extracted only from the total sample and not from subsamples.…”