ArticleEuropean journal of public health2024
Longitudinal reciprocal associations between volunteering, health and well-being: evidence for middle-aged and older adults in Europe.
Article in European journal of public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health benefits and harms of older adult volunteering: mixed methods systematic review.The Gerontologist · 2026Pooled it
- Exposing the Value of Receiving and Giving Help across 12 European Countries: a Longitudinal Analysis of Self-Perceived Health.Research square · 2026Article
- Understanding the effects of volunteering on well-being: subjective, psychological, and social well-being, gratitude, and loneliness.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Childhood predictors of charitable giving and helping across 22 countries in the Global Flourishing Study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Wellbeing and Retirement in Europe: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Microbes Saving Lives and Reducing Suffering.Microbial biotechnology · 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
- Does Helping Others Always Benefit Health? Longitudinal Evidence on the Relationship between Helping Behavior and Depression: The Mediating Role of Life Satisfaction and the Moderating Effect of IADL.Depression and anxiety · 2024Article
- Effects of Participation in Volunteer Activities on CD34Sage open agingArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is substantial evidence on the importance of voluntary activities for the health of middle-aged and older adults. Evidence on the effects of health and well-being on volunteering is more limited. This study examines reciprocal longitudinal associations between voluntary and/or charity activities and 21 indicators related to physical health, well-being, cognitive impairment and daily life functioning among middle-aged and older adults.
methodsLongitudinal data were collected between 2011 and 2020 from a sample of 19 821 middle-aged and older adults from 15 countries participating in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. An outcome-wide analysis and an exposure-wide analysis were applied and generalized estimating equations were used. Robustness analyses were conducted.
resultsVoluntary and/or charity activities almost every week or more often were prospectively associated with greater emotional well-being, reduced risks of limitations in activities of daily living and of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at a 6-year follow-up. Positive reverse associations were found from emotional well-being to volunteering. Limitations in daily life activities, increased loneliness, high blood cholesterol, hypertension and chronic lung disease were found to impede participation in voluntary and/or charity activities over time. Feedback loops between voluntary and/or charity activities and well-being and limitations in daily activities may exist.
conclusionUnderstanding the reciprocal nature of the relationship between volunteering and health and well-being can help identify strategies to encourage volunteering among middle-aged and older adults with specific health conditions and to target health promotion efforts towards volunteers.
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