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We investigate positive effects of volunteering on psychological well-being and self-reported health using all four waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Confirming previous research, volunteering was positively related to both outcome variables. Both consistency of volunteering over time and diversity of participation are significantly related to well-being and self-reported health. The relationship of volunteering to psychological well-being was moderated by level of social integration, such that those who were less well integrated benefited the most. Mattering appears to mediate the link between volunteering and well-being. Controls for other forms of social participation and for the predictors of volunteering are employed in analyses of well-being in 1992. We find volunteering effects on psychological well-being in 2004, controlling for 1992 well-being, thus providing strong evidence for a causal effect.
When praised for their altruistic actions, blood donors and volunteers commonly respond by saying something like, "Oh, no, what I do is actually selfish. I get so much more out of it than I give." Is this simply American individualist rhetoric? Or is there evidence that doing work that serves others has mood-enhancing, social-integrating, health-promoting, or even death-delaying power? Based on a review of the literature, Piliavin (2003) claims that the answer is, "essentially 'yes'. One does well by doing good" (p. 227).
Numerous studies reveal protective effects of volunteering on mental and physical health. Young and Glasgow (1998) found that self-reported health status increased as instrumental social participation increased for both men and women, using a longitudinal sample of 629 nonmetropolitan elderly. Moen, DempsterMcClain, and Williams (1989) followed a sample of women who were between the ages of 25 and 50 when first interviewed in 1956 and found that participation in clubs and volunteer activities had a significant protective effect on mortality in 1986. The analysis controlled for many other relevant factors, including health and the number of other roles in 1956, and the article makes clear that the activities were indeed largely community-oriented (PTA, scouting, book drives, etc.). In a second, more complex analysis, based on interviews done in 1986 with the 313 surviving women, Moen, Dempster-McClain, and Williams (1992) find effects on three measures: self-appraised health, time to serious illness, and functional ability. Oman, Thoresen, and McMahon (1999) also examined volunteering and mortality...