The health advantage of volunteering is larger for older and less healthy volunteers in Europe: a mega-analysis

Abstract

There is a vast literature on the health benefits associated with volunteering for volunteers. Such health advantages are likely to vary across groups of volunteers with different characteristics. The current paper aims to examine the health advantages of volunteering for European volunteers and explore heterogeneity in the association between volunteering and health. We carry out a mega-analysis on microdata from six panel surveys, covering 952,026 observations from 267,212 respondents in 22 European countries. We provide open access to the code we developed for data harmonization. We use ordinary least squares, fixed effects, first difference, and fixed effect quantile regressions to estimate how volunteering activities and changes therein are related to self-rated health for different groups. Our results indicate a small but consistently positive association between changes in volunteering and changes in health within individuals. This association is stronger for older adults. For respondents 60 years and older, within-person changes in volunteering are significantly related to changes in self-rated health. Additionally, the health advantage of volunteering is larger for respondents in worse health. The advantage is largest at the lowest decile and gradually declines along the health distribution. The magnitude of the association at the first decile is about twice the magnitude of the association at the ninth decile. These results suggest that volunteering may be more beneficial for the health of specific groups in society. With small health advantages from year to year, volunteering may protect older and less healthy adults from health decline in the long run.

Barriers to volunteering in the field of intellectual disability: a cluster analysis

“…Besides the motivation to donate time to the social economy, there are several barriers to volunteering (McKenzie et al, 2021 ; Southby et al, 2019 ; Sundeen et al, 2007 ). Although several studies mention that volunteering can bring benefits to the various stakeholders — volunteers, the organisation and its public, as well as the community itself (Ganesh & Mcallum, 2012 ; Handy & Srinivasan, 2004 ; Wit et al, 2022 ) —, not all individuals are equally predisposed to volunteering (Macduff et al, 2009 ; Netting et al, 2005 ). Efficient management of non-profit organisations and volunteer recruitment critically implies understanding both the motivations to engage in social economy activities and the barriers that hinder such involvement.…”

The State of Research on Philanthropy in Europe in 2022

“… When income increases, giving does not increase proportionally (Neumayr & Pennerstorfer, 2021).  Among the elderly, volunteering maintains and may even improve health (De Wit, Qu, & Bekkers, 2022).  Among those out of work, however, volunteering does not improve well-being (Kamerāde & Bennett, 2018).…”

How Active Are European Seniors—Their Personal Ways to Active Ageing? Is Seniors’ Activity in Line with the Expectations of the Active Ageing Strategy?

“…According to AA, one of the activities of seniors is volunteering. Research shows that volunteering, as a form of social commitment and socialisation, has positive health benefits to individuals, especially the more sensitive people, and affects their well-being [66,67]. Tanskanen et al [68] indicated that older people who help relatives and friends by giving informal monetary help and charitable donations, often participate and are more likely to engage in pro-social activity, volunteering and charity.…”