ArticleBMC public health2017
Volunteering and health benefits in general adults: cumulative effects and forms.
Article in BMC public health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 47 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of an 8-week multicomponent health-sports program on functional efficiency and volunteering attitudes among university students in Saudi Arabia: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in public health · 2026Trial
- Enhancing mental well-being in university students through multicomponent low intensity positive education and the mediating role of civic engagement.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- The effects of involvement in training and volunteering with families of people with dementia on the knowledge and attitudes of volunteers towards dementia.BMC public health · 2022Trial
- Volunteering Predicts Mixed Outcomes on Subjective Wellbeing.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Racial Differences in Social Capital Volunteer Activities: A Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Study of How Race and Place Influence Opportunities.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Defining Spiritual Wellbeing in Survivors of Stroke: A Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Study.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Article
- The Impact of Volunteer Wildlife Caregiving on Meaning in Life in Mid-Aged and Older Australians.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Volunteering and Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes in Black Adolescents From Low-Income Families.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Engaging for change: the influence of civic engagement on at-risk Arab minority youth in Israel.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Understanding the effects of volunteering on well-being: subjective, psychological, and social well-being, gratitude, and loneliness.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The protective power of social connectedness: Individual vs. community influences on psychological distress in middle-aged Black adults.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- Leisure activities of adolescents-associations with demographic characteristics, well-being and parental leisure engagement.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Mediating Effect of Depression and Anxiety on the Relationship Between Grief Reaction and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Lebanese Volunteers.Psychiatry investigation · 2025Article
- A specialized training program enhances university students' knowledge, attitudes, and practices on volunteering: evidence from Oman.Frontiers in sociology · 2025Article
- Healing through volunteering: psychological wellbeing in humanitarian missions.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Volunteering and Its Association with Depression, Loneliness, and Lifestyle of Older Adults: Insights from a Japanese Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Exploring the relationship between loneliness and volunteering amongst Australian adults: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Volunteering across contexts: comparing attitudes toward volunteering with prisoners and people with mental illness.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Longitudinal impact of volunteering on the cognitive functioning of older adults: A secondary analysis from the US Health and Retirement Study.International journal of nursing sciences · 2023Article
- Views on volunteering in mental health: a focus group study with mental health professionals and volunteers in Portugal.Discover mental health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough the health benefits of volunteering have been well documented, no research has examined its cumulative effects according to other-oriented and self-oriented volunteering on multiple health outcomes in the general adult public. This study examined other-oriented and self-oriented volunteering in cumulative contribution to health outcomes (mental and physical health, life satisfaction, social well-being and depression).
methodsData were drawn from the Survey of Texas Adults 2004, which contains a statewide population-based sample of adults (n = 1504). Multivariate linear regression and Wald test of parameters equivalence constraint were used to test the relationships.
resultsBoth forms of volunteering were significantly related to better health outcomes (odds ratios = 3.66% to 11.11%), except the effect of self-oriented volunteering on depression. Other-oriented volunteering was found to have better health benefits than did self-volunteering.
conclusionVolunteering should be promoted by public health, education and policy practitioners as a kind of healthy lifestyle, especially for the social subgroups of elders, ethnic minorities, those with little education, single people, and unemployed people, who generally have poorer health and less participation in volunteering.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.