Volunteer Dynamics of Older Americans

Butrica, Barbara A.; Johnson, Richard W.; Zedlewski, Sheila R.

doi:10.1093/geronb/gbn042

Cited by 101 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…When coming to satisfaction with one's work as an indicator for the intrinsic motivation to volunteer, all models show a positive, but insignificant effect. In line with previous studies M1 shows that the more experience a person has in volunteering, the more likely it becomes that the same person will also volunteer in a later stage of life (Erlinghagen, 2010;Butrica et al, 2009). This effect holds true over all three models.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Previous studies show that doing volunteer work in retirement is more likely if a person has gained related experience earlier in life (Butrica et al, 2009;Erlinghagen, 2010). This makes it plausible to assume that the postulated prestigecompensation effect should also be observable for active workers before they enter retirement.…”

Section: Formal Volunteering As a Substitutional Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…been shown that the level of education and the household net income positively impact on the volunteering of older actors (Chambré, 1997;Choi, 2003;Erlinghagen and Hank, 2006;Erlinghagen, 2010;Tang, 2006;Börsch-Supan et al, 2009), that retired women are more engaged than men (Choi, 2003;Tang, 2006;Hank, 2011), and that prior volunteering experience (Butrica et al, 2009;Erlinghagen, 2010) and a higher degree of physical and mental health increases the likelihood to volunteer in old age (Broese van Groenou, Marjolein and van Tilburg, 2012;Caro and Bass, 1997;Choi, 2003;Erlinghagen and Hank, 2006;Komp et al, 2012;Li and Ferraro, 2006). However, little is known about the effect of an actor's (previous) employment.…”

Section: Thus It Hasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Occupation, Prestige, and Voluntary Work in Retirement: Empirical Evidence from Germany

Lengfeld

Ordemann

2014

SSRN Journal

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research at DIW BerlinThis series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel Study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science.The decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly.Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin.Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The paper examines the extent to which the prestige value of a retiree's former occupation increases the likelihood that they will make a transition into volunteering after retirement. Following social production function theory, we assume that when a person retires, the prestige value attached to their former occupation fades. The fact that volunteering has the character of a collective good provides the opportunity to gain social prestige to offset the loss of occupational prestige. However, the extent of the incentive to volunteer will be distributed unequally across occupations: the higher the former occupational prestige value, the higher the perceived loss of prestige after retirement. Thus, doing a job with high prestige value increases the incentive to volunteer in retirement. This assumption is tested, using data taken from the German Socio-Economic Panel follows, albeit to a lesser extent, the logic of the occupational social strata.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Formal Volunteering As a Substitutional Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Thus It Hasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Occupation, Prestige, and Voluntary Work in Retirement: Empirical Evidence from Germany

Lengfeld

Ordemann

2014

SSRN Journal

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“…Acknowledging poor health as a barrier to volunteering, authors report a significant relationship between health and volunteering, with volunteering being explained by better health. This positive association emerged when health was self-rated (Choi 2003;Erlinghagen and Hank 2006;Erlinghagen 2010;McNamara and Gonzales 2011), measured in terms of functional limitations (Choi 2003;Hank and Stuck 2008;Suanet et al 2009), or in terms of mental health (Butrica et al 2009;Ahn et al 2011;Thomas 2011). The relationship between volunteering in older age and the number of chronic diseases was less evident in terms of its statistical significance (Erlinghagen and Hank 2006;Okun and Michel 2006;Ahn et al 2011).…”

Section: Health and Volunteeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples of indicators of social capital, all of which increase the possibility of undertaking volunteering, include being married, having children, working in the labour market, and informal caregiving. These characteristics could also limit volunteering by decreasing the amount of time available, but according to resource theory, their effect on volunteering is positive (Wymer 1999;Warburton et al 2001;Erlinghagen and Hank 2006;Butrica et al 2009;McNamara and Gonzales 2011;Principi et al 2013). However, the role of informal caregiving is controversial in that there are some cases where a negative association with volunteering in older age has been reported (Burr et al 2005).…”

Section: Individual Capital and Volunteeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do predictors of volunteering in older age differ by health status?

et al. 2016

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It has been widely recognised that poor health is one of the main barriers to participation in volunteer activities in older age. Therefore, it is crucial to examine the participation of older people in volunteering, especially those in poor health. Based on the resource theory of volunteering, the aim of this study is to better understand the correlates of volunteering among older people with different health statuses, namely those without health problems (neither multimorbidity nor disability), those with mild health problems (multimorbidity or disability), and those with severe health problems (multimorbidity and disability). Data were drawn from the fourth wave (2011-2012, release 1.1.1) of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, which includes European people aged 50 years or older. The results showed that variables linked to volunteering were generally similar regardless of health status, but some differences were nevertheless identified. For older people with mild or severe health problems, for instance, depressive symptoms were negatively associated with their involvement in volunteer activities. We found a positive association of being widowed (rather than married) with volunteering in older people with particularly poor health, whereas high income was associated with volunteering in the case of mild health problems only. These results demonstrate that variables associated with volunteer participation partially differ between older people depending on their health status. These differences should be considered by policy makers in their attempts to promote volunteering in older people, as a means of preventing their social exclusion.

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Retired occupational therapists' experiences in volunteer occupations

Cole¹,

Macdonald²

2010

Occupation Therapy Intl

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As the baby boomer generation, born 1945-1963, begins its transition to retirement, what might be the position of volunteering within their new life structure? Using retired occupational therapists as a purposive sample (n = 50), this survey provides a description of the volunteer experience in three distinct phases: 1) Pre-retirement contemplation and preparation; 2) Actions, thoughts and feelings during the volunteer experience; and 3) Thoughts and feelings related to ending their volunteer roles. Results reveal that while retirees are highly motivated by altruism and the wish to stay engaged and connected with others through volunteering, they often find the existing structure of the organizations unable and unwilling to provide the kinds of volunteer roles that meet their needs and goals. These findings closely align with evidence from multidisciplinary and public health literature on civic engagement in the Third Age, retired but not disabled. In conclusion, results imply three new roles for occupational therapy practitioners with volunteering: 1) Promoting volunteer exploration and participation for older adult clients with disabilities; 2) Providing group interventions for Third Agers transitioning to retirement; and 3) Consulting with the organizations that depend on volunteers to guide them in revising the way they define and organize volunteer roles. Study is limited to one specific population but paves the way for replication with a broader range of participants.

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Volunteer Dynamics of Older Americans

Abstract: The results point to the need to focus efforts on retaining older volunteers to maximize volunteer engagement during later years. Recruiting older adults in volunteer activities early on, ideally before they retire, could also help meet volunteer needs.

Cited by 101 publications

References 18 publications

Occupation, Prestige, and Voluntary Work in Retirement: Empirical Evidence from Germany

Occupation, Prestige, and Voluntary Work in Retirement: Empirical Evidence from Germany

Do predictors of volunteering in older age differ by health status?

Retired occupational therapists' experiences in volunteer occupations

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