Health Benefits Associated With Three Helping Behaviors: Evidence for Incident Cardiovascular Disease

Burr, Jeffrey A.; Han, Sae Hwang; Lee, Hyo Jung; Tavares, Jane; Mutchler, Jan E.

doi:10.1093/geronb/gbx082

Cited by 29 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Similarly, Chi et al (2021) found that women across the age range were more likely than men to provide unpaid assistance and emotional support. Informal helping and caregiving is normative for women, and although further research is needed, the current findings suggest that gender roles and normative expectations remain stable with age (Burr et al, 2018). Future studies should assess whether gender differences moderate associations between prosocial activities and meso-/macro-level consequences on well-being in older age.…”

Section: Gender Differencesmentioning

confidence: 70%

Introduction to the special issue on prosociality in adult development and aging: Advancing theory within a multilevel framework.

Bailey¹,

Ebner²,

Stine‐Morrow³

2021

Psychology and Aging

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Section: Gender Differencesmentioning

confidence: 70%

Introduction to the special issue on prosociality in adult development and aging: Advancing theory within a multilevel framework.

Bailey¹,

Ebner²,

Stine‐Morrow³

2021

Psychology and Aging

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“…Here, the potential intersection of age with other social roles and sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., gender) may be important to consider. For example, providing informal help was linked to a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease in men but not women in the Health and Retirement Study, whereas formal volunteering was associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk in women only (Burr, Han, Lee, Tavares, & Mutchler, 2018). Men tend to provide help that is more discretionary and less taxing (e.g., less direct care) and therefore may show greater well-being benefits from providing assistance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Men tend to provide help that is more discretionary and less taxing (e.g., less direct care) and therefore may show greater well-being benefits from providing assistance. By contrast, helping others is normative and expected for women; thus, the more discretionary nature of formal volunteering may confer greater benefits than other forms of prosocial activities among women (Burr et al, 2018). Future research could examine whether gender differences in the links between prosocial activities and well-being may differ across the adult life span.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Daily prosocial activities and well-being: Age moderation in two national studies.

Chi

Almeida

Charles

et al. 2021

Psychology and Aging

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Prosocial activities, such as volunteering, predict better mental and physical health in late adulthood, but their proximal links to well-being in daily life are largely unknown. The current study examined day-to-day associations of prosocial activities with emotional and physical well-being, and whether these associations differ with age. We used daily diary data from the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE) II (n ϭ 2,016; ages 33-84) and NSDE Refresher Study (n ϭ 774; ages 25-75). Participants completed telephone interviews on 8 consecutive evenings regarding their prosocial activities (formal volunteering, providing unpaid assistance, providing emotional support), well-being (negative affect, stressors, positive events), and physical symptoms. On days when individuals participated in more formal volunteering or provided more unpaid assistance than usual, they experienced more stressors and positive events but no difference in the number of physical symptoms. Negative affect was reduced on volunteering days for older adults but increased for younger adults (NSDE Refresher). Providing emotional support was associated with higher same-day negative affect, more stressors, more positive events, and elevated physical symptoms. Compared to younger and middle-aged adults, older adults experienced less of an increase in stressors and positive events (NSDE II) and negative affect (NSDE Refresher) on days when they provided more emotional support than usual. These findings demonstrate that prosocial activities are associated with both costs (negative affect, stressors, physical symptoms) and benefits (positive events) for same-day well-being. Older age may protect against negative ramifications associated with prosocial activities.

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“…In conclusion, given the importance of social participation (even in older ages) and the positive outcomes associated with voluntary work (Anderson et al, 2014; Burr, Han, Lee, Tavares, & Mutchler, 2018; Carr et al, 2018), it is crucial to encourage participation among those potentially more in need of these benefits, such as people with health problems. Fostering voluntary work is one aspect of the realization of active aging and social inclusion and becomes possible if there are opportunities to realize individuals’ potential according to their needs, desires, and capacities (Principi, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health and Volunteering in Europe: A Longitudinal Study

et al. 2019

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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.

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Health Benefits Associated With Three Helping Behaviors: Evidence for Incident Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract: The results demonstrated that specific types of prosocial behavior may be beneficial for women and men. However, tests for effect differences showed that gender did not moderate the relationships between these helping behaviors and CVD risk.

Cited by 29 publications

References 35 publications

Introduction to the special issue on prosociality in adult development and aging: Advancing theory within a multilevel framework.

Introduction to the special issue on prosociality in adult development and aging: Advancing theory within a multilevel framework.

Daily prosocial activities and well-being: Age moderation in two national studies.

Health and Volunteering in Europe: A Longitudinal Study

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