Health and Volunteering in Europe: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between health and volunteering in advanced age in a cross-national comparison. We used longitudinal data from five waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe covering 13 European countries from 2004 to 2015 and employed dynamic random-effects probit models to study the consequences of declining health on voluntary work. Our results confirm that worsening health conditions (i.e., mobility limitations and depression) reduce the likelihood of volunteering, whereas chronic diseases do not. Most interestingly, we found important differences across countries: Worsening health reduces voluntary work participation, especially in contexts characterized by high rates of volunteering. Our findings have implications for policy makers and voluntary organizations that aim to encourage participation: Individual characteristics and contextual aspects must be taken into account, and people with health problems might need specific support through policies, recruitment, and retention even in contexts of overall high levels of volunteering.

Stereotypes of volunteers and nonprofit organizations' professionalization: A two‐study article

“…This shows that the relationships between (and potentially perceptions of) professional paid workers and volunteers are different according to the country in which volunteering activities take place. Furthermore, volunteering is more frequent in the northern European countries rather than in the southern ones (Papa, Cutuli, Principi, & Scherer, 2019), and most research on volunteers is conducted outside of regions such as Africa (Kühn, Stiglbauer, & Fifka, 2018). Therefore, the country context is of primary importance when analyzing research findings and, as a result, we suggest that forthcoming investigations examine how volunteers are perceived in regions other than Belgium.…”

Determinants of Volunteering Within a Social Housing Community

“…Physical health pertains to an individual's physical functioning, bodily pain, general health, and vitality (Maruish 2012). Although longitudinal studies demonstrate the health benefits of volunteering are substantial, it is also the case that poor physical health and long-term illness or disability constrains capacity for volunteering (Onyx and Warburton 2003;Mellor et al 2009;Martinez et al 2011;Li and Ferraro 2006;Principi et al 2016;Papa et al 2019). However, the effects of physical health are more complex when situational factors and types of volunteering are considered.…”

Active Participation and Well-Being Among the Elderly in Belgium and the USA: A Cross-National Time-Use Perspective

“…Two of the few studies that analyze time spent on active participation report no distinctive trends by age (Gauthier and Smeeding 2003;McKenna et al 2007). In fact, health seems to be more predictive of volunteering than age (Papa et al 2019;Principi et al 2016). Gender plays a significant role in providing childcare for grandchildren (Craig and Jenkins 2016b;Horsfall and Dempsey 2015) and for informal care and volunteering in general (Hook 2004), with women more than men engaging in these activities.…”