Volunteering by older adults and risk of mortality: a meta-analysis.

Okun MA, Yeung EW, Brown S

Psychology and aging · June 1, 2013

Organizational volunteering has been touted as an effective strategy for older adults to help themselves while helping others. We carried out a meta-analysis of the relation between organizational volunteering by late-middle-aged and older adults (minimum age = 55 years old) and risk of mortality. For unadjusted effect sizes, on average, volunteering reduced mortality risk by 47%, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 38% to 55%. For adjusted effect sizes, on average, volunteering reduced mortality risk by 24%, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 16% to 31%. For interaction effect sizes, we found preliminary support that as public religiosity increases, the inverse relation between volunteering and mortality risk becomes stronger.

PMID: 23421326 · DOI: 10.1037/a0031519