Volunteer Transitions Among Older Adults: The Role of Human, Social, and Cultural Capital in Later Life

Abstract

Results suggest that bolstering older adults' capitals, particularly among lower socioeconomic status groups, can increase volunteer engagement and intensity and reduce cessation. Additionally, a variety of organizational policies including respite programs for caregivers and employer policies allowing employees to reduce their work hours might indirectly affect participation rates and commitment. Potential pools of volunteers exist in families, workplaces, and religious organizations, but more research is necessary to identify how to recruit and retain individuals in social networks where volunteer participatory rates are low.

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

“…This finding is important theoretically, because when heterogeneous samples are investigated in terms of health conditions, volunteering is very often positively associated with being married (e.g. Choi 2003;McNamara and Gonzales 2011). Future longitudinal studies should therefore further clarify the causality between widowhood and volunteering in reference to different levels of health in the older population.…”

“…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).…”

“…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).…”

To Volunteer or Not

“…In research on volunteering, more theoretical explanations began to emerge (Musick & Wilson, 2008;Warburton & Stirling, 2007) through the construction of a unified theory by combining a number of predictors associated with volunteer behavior in older people (i.e., Chambré, 1987;Choi, 2003;McNamara & Gonzales, 2011;Sundeen, Raskoff, & Garcia, 2007;Tang, 2008). Wilson and Musick (1997) were the first to develop a structural approach, leading to an integrated theory of predictors (human, social, and cultural capital) influencing volunteer behavior.…”

“…Furthermore, older adults seem more likely to help others given an expectation of the same return in the near future (Choi, Burr, Mutchler, & Caro, 2007). The time devoted to providing informal help appears to bear a positive relationship with late-life volunteering (Einolf, 2010;McNamara & Gonzales, 2011). Likewise, helping someone outside the household expands one's social ties and may increase the likelihood of being recruited (McBride, Gonzales, Morrow-Howell, & McCrary, 2011).…”