Dynamics of Volunteering in Older Europeans

Abstract

Our study supports the notion of volunteering as an important productive aging activity and underlines the importance of both life-course and social context factors as determinants of volunteer dynamics at older ages.

Trajectories of social participation in old age: a systematic literature review

“…In addition, social behavior is influenced by personal aspects (health, gender, income, schooling), contextual (social support, physical barriers and opportunities), as well as by common events of old age that characterize socially transient moments, for example, retirement and widowhood [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] .…”

Pasts that last: The moderating role of education and former occupation for men's volunteering after retirement

“…While the cross-sectional nature makes it difficult to firmly establish causal relations, the findings for the main retirement effect mirror those found with panel data (Hank & Erlinghagen, 2009;Mutchler, et al, 2003;Palmore, et al, 1984). Another point regards the distinctiveness of the Netherlands with its high volunteering rates (Erlinghagen & Hank, 2006;Hank & Erlinghagen, 2009;Suanet, Broese van Groenou, & Braam, 2009). The results of this study may thus be country specific, as Dutch retirees may experience a strong social norm to volunteer, leading to strong retirement effects on volunteering.…”

“…With regard to volunteering the Dutch pose a noteworthy case as the young old have some of the highest volunteering rates of Europe (Erlinghagen & Hank, 2006;Hank & Erlinghagen, 2009), which partly reflects the relatively strong support of the government for voluntary organizations (Pichler & Wallace, 2007). Moreover, the nonprofit sector in the Netherlands was strongly influenced by the 'pillarization' of Dutch society, a phenomenon most prevalent from the second half of the 19 th century until well into the 20 th century.…”

“…Retirement, then, means a loss of resources and a steep increase in leisure time that requires satiation. Earlier research has shown that voluntary work may serve this purpose well (Chambré, 1984;Choi, 2003;Fernández-Ballesteros, et al, 2011;Hank, 2011;Hank & Erlinghagen, 2009;Hank & Stuck, 2008;Mutchler, et al, 2003;Okun & Schultz, 2003;Palmore, Fillenbaum, & George, 1984;van den Bogaard, et al, 2014), and it has been suggested that this holds mostly for men, as "adjustment to retirement seemed relatively easy for those women who always had a second role as home-makers. They simply shifted from one possible self to another well-established one" (Kloep & Hendry, 2006, p. 590).…”

“…While previous research has recurrently shown that, in general, retirement positively influences volunteering (Chambré, 1984;Choi, 2003;Erlinghagen & Hank, 2006;Hank & Erlinghagen, 2009;Mutchler, Burr, & Caro, 2003;Principi, Warburton, Schippers, & Di Rosa, 2012;van den Bogaard, Henkens, & Kalmijn, 2014), there are good reasons to suspect that this effect differs for people from various backgrounds. In social stratification research, the question whether is it mostly human capital or rather class that is at work as a differentiating factor in society has been debated extensively.…”