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Description
By 2050, the proportion of the older adults population in the United States will more than double. Baby Boomers will not only live longer than any previous generation but they also face unprecedented rates of chronic disease. This reality will impact their overall quality of life and strain funding sources required to manage their care. Recently, greater attention has been paid to the potential of volunteerism engagement as an intervention to enhance participants' well-being and improve their health. Research has demonstrated a correlation between volunteering engagement and improved physical and cognitive health, higher well-being, and delayed mortality. This study assesses the sociodemographic characteristics of adults aged 50 years and higher in 2006 Social Capital Community Survey and examines the association between their volunteering and self-reported health and well-being. The present study includes theories of successful aging, Erickson's theory of psychosocial development, and role theory. It is designed as an analysis of secondary cross-sectional data. Results reveal that higher volunteering rates, self-reported health, and self-reported well-being were reported significantly more often by people who were married, had greater levels of educational attainment, and were currently working. Notably and contrary to the literature, there were no racial inequities in volunteering, health or well-being. While volunteering was not significantly associated with higher self-reported health after confounding variables were controlled for, there was a significant positive and linear association between volunteering frequency and high self-reported well-being. Furthering our understanding of health promoting interventions that will allow the older adult population to live happier, healthier, and within their communities longer is an urgent social and health policy imperative. Engagement in volunteering may be one such low cost intervention that will not only improve the life of the volunteer, but will also benefit society at large. Future research should utilize rigorous experimental design, make distinctions between informal and formal volunteering, include objective measures of health, and incorporate measures such as volunteer hours and activities to gain a deeper understanding of the variables involved in better individual outcomes.
