Journal
VOLUNTAS
Volume 33, Issue 2, Pages 256-268Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11266-020-00267-w
Keywords
Subjective well-being (SWB); Life satisfaction; Happiness; Aging; Elderly; Volunteering; Social transfers; Social capital; Survey of Health; Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)
Categories
Funding
- Narodowe Centrum Nauki [2016/21/B/HS4/03058]
- European Commission [QLK6-CT-2001-00360, SHARE-I3: RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE: CIT5-CT-2005-028857, SHARELIFE: CIT4-CT-2006-028812, 211909, 227822, 261982]
- German Ministry of Education and Research
- U.S. National Institute on Aging [U01_AG09740-13S2, P01_AG005842, P01_AG08291, P30_AG12815, R21_AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG_BSR06-11, OGHA_04-064, HHSN271201300071C]
- Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science
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This study investigates the impact of volunteering on the quality of life of 50+ populations in European countries and Israel. The findings reveal a nonlinear relationship between the extent of volunteering and its effect on quality of life, with volunteering having a greater impact on internal domains of well-being. These insights contribute to the existing research in the field.
This paper investigates the effect of volunteering on quality of life (QoL) in 50+ populations across European countries and Israel. We analyzed data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Using the Kendall tau-b correlation coefficients, we show that the extent of effect volunteering has on quality of life is nonlinearly related to the prevalence of volunteering in a given country. The relationship follows an inverted-U-shaped curve. In countries where volunteering is the most popular (Denmark, Switzerland, and Belgium) and in countries with the lowest rates (Poland, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Spain), the correlation between volunteering and one's quality of life is low. The correlation is high in countries with medium levels of volunteering (Austria, Italy, and Israel). Moreover, volunteering affects more internal than external domains of QoL. These new insights extend the discussion started by Haski-Leventhal (Voluntas Int J Volunt Nonprofit Organ 20:388-404, 2009). Our study is correlational, and we do not claim causality.
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