Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2024 May 1;79(5). doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbae033.
Decades of research indicate that volunteering is associated with better health for the volunteer beyond the selection effects based on health. However, little is known about potential heterogeneity in health outcomes associated with volunteering in the context of good or poor health. This study addresses this gap by focusing on the frailty index (FI) to investigate the volunteering-health nexus across the population frailty distribution ranging from fit to frail.
Using nationally representative data from the Health and Retirement Study (person N = 34,986; 198,218 person-wave observations), we estimated unconditional quantile regression models with panel fixed effects to estimate changes in FI associated with changes in the share of volunteers in the population across the frailty distribution observed across the study period (1998-2020).
Our findings demonstrated that the volunteering-FI association was heterogeneous across the frailty distribution. The association was the most potent at the higher end of the frailty distribution, suggesting that efforts to promote volunteering may yield greater benefits for older adults experiencing high levels of frailty.
The current study findings provide unique and compelling evidence in support of earlier calls for considering volunteering as a public health intervention. The study findings are discussed in the context of population health outcomes and health disparities.
几十年来的研究表明，与基于健康的选择效应相比，志愿服务对志愿者的健康有益。然而，对于在健康状况良好或不佳的情况下，志愿服务与健康结果之间的潜在异质性知之甚少。本研究通过关注脆弱指数（FI）来填补这一空白，以调查在从健康到脆弱的人群脆弱性分布范围内，志愿服务与健康之间的关系。
利用来自健康与退休研究（个体 N=34986；198218 人次观测）的全国代表性数据，我们使用具有面板固定效应的无条件分位数回归模型，估计与研究期间（1998-2020 年）观察到的人群中志愿者比例变化相关的 FI 变化。
我们的研究结果表明，志愿服务与 FI 的关联在脆弱性分布上存在异质性。这种关联在脆弱性分布的较高端最为强烈，这表明促进志愿服务的努力可能会为经历高度脆弱性的老年人带来更大的益处。
本研究结果为支持将志愿服务视为公共卫生干预措施的早期呼吁提供了独特而有力的证据。研究结果在人口健康结果和健康差距的背景下进行了讨论。
