Hans Hämäläinen, Antti O. Tanskanen, Bruno Arpino, Liili Abuladze, Aïda Solé-Auró & Mirkka Danielsbacka
Due to low birth rates and increased life expectancy, the populations of European countries are ageing rapidly. With the growing proportion of older people, many countries have set active ageing as a political goal. The aim is for individuals to stay active and continue participating in society even in the later stages of their lives.
Active ageing beyond paid employment
Active ageing is often associated with paid employment, and thus, the focus is typically on extending working careers. However, it is important to recognise other forms of activity, as employment may not necessarily be available or a realistic option for older adults. In addition to paid work, volunteering can enable various types of activity and societal participation in later life.
Volunteering always requires resources, such as adequate health, a reasonable financial condition, and time to engage in voluntary activities. Indeed, studies have shown that health, financial situation, and time resources are positively associated with volunteering. However, previous research had not examined whether changes in these resources impact engagement in volunteering.
Study on changes in resources and volunteering
In our study, we investigated separately whether positive and negative changes in individuals’ resources (health, financial condition, and available time) were associated with changes in the frequency of volunteering. We used longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, collected from 19 European countries between 2011 and 2020. All respondents (n = 17,498) were aged 50 or older and had participated in two or more survey waves, which allowed us to examine changes in resources and helping behaviour over time.
According to the results, both deteriorating health and financial condition were associated with a decrease in volunteering frequency. In contrast, improvements in health or financial condition were not associated with changes in volunteering participation.
We measured time resources by considering involvement in other time-consuming activities, such as providing intensive family care within one’s own household, working weekly, or looking after grandchildren on a weekly basis. We found that stopping paid work and starting to care for grandchildren weekly were associated with increased frequency of volunteering. However, changes in family care did not predict changes in volunteering, which may partly be due to the small number of family caregivers in the sample.
Main takeaways from the study
Deteriorating individual resources predicted a decrease in volunteering, but aside from stopping work, improvements in resources were not associated with increased participation. However, those who started to spend more time looking after grandchildren also increased their participation in volunteering. This may indicate that grandparents providing childcare are often highly active, engaging in multiple types of activities.
The writers are Senior Researcher Hans Hämäläinen at the INVEST Reserach Flagship Centere, Professor Antti O. Tanskanen (INVEST), Visiting Fellow Bruno Arpino (INVEST), Researcher Liili Abuladze (INVEST), Associate Professor Aïda Solé-Auró at Pompeu Fabra University & Associate Professor Mirkka Danielsbacka (INVEST).
The blog text is based on research article:
Hämäläinen, H., Tanskanen, A. O., Arpino, B., Abuladze, L., Solé-Auró, A., & Danielsbacka, M. (2024). Changes in Resources and Volunteering: A Longitudinal Study of Active Engagement Among Older Europeans. The Gerontologist,
More information: Hans Hämäläinen (hans.hamalainen@utu.fi)
