Elderly Volunteering in Europe: The Relationship Between Volunteering and Quality of Life Depends on Volunteering Rates
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RESEARCH PAPERS
Elderly Volunteering in Europe: The Relationship Between Volunteering and Quality of Life Depends on Volunteering Rates Leszek Morawski1
•
Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn2 • Marianna Strzelecka3
Ó The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This paper investigates the effect of volunteering on quality of life (QoL) in 50? populations across European countries and Israel. We analyzed data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Using the Kendall tau-b correlation coefficients, we show that the extent of effect volunteering has on quality of life is nonlinearly related to the prevalence of volunteering in a given country. The relationship follows an inverted-U-shaped curve. In countries where volunteering is the most popular (Denmark, Switzerland, and Belgium) and in countries with the lowest rates (Poland, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Spain), the correlation between volunteering and one’s quality of life is low. The correlation is high in countries with medium levels of volunteering (Austria, Italy, and Israel). Moreover, volunteering affects more internal than external domains of QoL. These new insights extend the discussion started by HaskiLeventhal (Voluntas Int J Volunt Nonprofit Organ 20:388–404, 2009). Our study is correlational, and we do not claim causality.
& Leszek Morawski [email protected] Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn [email protected] Marianna Strzelecka [email protected] 1
Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, Długa 44/50 St., 00-241 Warsaw, Poland
2
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University–Camden, 311 North Fifth Street, Camden, NJ 08102, USA
3
Department of Organisation and Entrepreneurship, School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, Nygatan 18B, 392 34 Kalmar, Sweden
Keywords Subjective well-being (SWB) Life satisfaction Happiness Aging Elderly Volunteering Social transfers Social capital Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)
Introduction Quality aging depends on social participation. Volunteering enables older adults to remain connected to society (Morrow-Howell 2010). It helps them form social bonds and overcome adverse events in life (Ehlers et al. 2011). Given the societal significance of volunteering among older adults, this study examined the relationship between participation in volunteering and quality of life for European and Israelian volunteers aged 50 and above. Specifically, we focus on how this relationship changes along with the volunteering rate across the countries. This issue was previously raised by Haski-Leventhal (2009), who analyzed data collected in 2004 in 11 countries from Western and Northern Europe and Israel, and found a positive correlation between volunteering and perceived health, satisfaction with life, and self-reported life expectancy among Europeans 50?. Importantly, Haski-Leventhal (2009) found a relatively low impact of volunteering on well-being in countries with high volunteering rates. Precisely, the relationship between participation in vol
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