Volunteering and Wellbeing Among Ageing Adults: A Longitudinal Analysis

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Previous scholarship has shown evidence of a positive relationship between volunteering and improved measures of mental...     

Understanding the Relationship Between Subjective Wellbeing and Gambling Behavior

This paper examines the relationship between gambling behavior and subjective wellbeing. It is often asserted that populations consist of different types of gamblers: those for whom gambling is a harmless leisure activity and those (pathological/problem gamblers) for whom the activity has harmful effects. One might, therefore, assume that subjective wellbeing will be negativity associated with an individual’s level of gambling addiction. Alternatively, gamblers may choose to gamble because they derive utility from participating in this activity and so the relationship between happiness and gambling might be positively correlated. In this paper we test this association, empirically, using data from the 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Survey. The statistically significant findings from this analysis support the hypothesis that individual wellbeing falls as gambling disorder increases.     

Influences of Resources and Subjective Dispositions on Formal and Informal Volunteering

This study investigated the influences of resources and subjective dispositions on formal and informal volunteering. The author examined whether resources are associated with formal volunteering, while subjective dispositions are associated with informal volunteering, using data from representative national Japanese samples (SSP-P2010 data). The results suggested that socioeconomic resources (namely education) are more strongly related to formal volunteering than to informal volunteering, while subjective dispositions (empathy and religious mind) are associated with both formal and informal volunteering. The main finding of the present study was that empathy and religious mind are the essential facilitators of both types of volunteering with different characteristics.     

The Impacts of Cash Transfers on Subjective Wellbeing and Poverty: The Case of Colombia

Cash transfer programs have been the main social policy in the fight against poverty and inequality in Latin-American countries. This paper analyzes the impacts of the program Más Familias en Acción on the perception of poverty and subjective wellbeing in Colombia. The analyses are based on data from the Encuesta Nacional de Calidad de Vida between 2008 and 2016. Two empirical strategies were compared to account for the lack of randomness in groups of beneficiary and non-beneficiary families: (i) non-experimental designs (linear and nonlinear models with cross-sectional and pooled data); (ii) quasi-experimental designs (Propensity Score Matching and Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment). The results were robust to the different empirical strategies and emphasized that: (i) transfers increase the perception of food insecurity and subjective poverty; (ii) conditionalities involve positive impacts on different indicators of subjective wellbeing, especially health and education; (iii) general impacts on the perceptions of life are nonsignificant, as a result of divergent impacts on the dimensions of the subjective wellbeing of families.     

Education,Perceived Control,and Volunteering

The consistent effect of education on volunteering has been explained in a number of ways. In this study we test the hypothesis that perceived control beliefs are partly responsible. Using two waves of panel data from National Survey of Midlife in the United States we estimated cross‐lagged structural equation models in which education is positioned as the exogenous variable and perceived control and volunteering are allowed to be reciprocally related across the two waves. We find that perceived control predicts volunteering, but there is no reciprocal effect: volunteering has no effect on sense of control. One reason, therefore, that educated people are more likely to volunteer is that they have stronger control beliefs. The findings enrich the theory of volunteering by introducing the idea of agency, showing one way in which resources influence the decision to volunteer.     

Volunteering,pro-environmental attitudes and norms

In the spirit of previous work in the compliance literature (e.g., tax, littering), we investigate whether environmental social norms affect volunteering in environmental organizations. Using two ‘environmental morale’ variables as indirect measures, we analyze the impact of social norms on the incidence of unpaid work in environmental organizations. In addition, we test whether violation of a specific environmental norm initiates a conditional cooperation response. We explore a large individual data set covering 32 countries from both Western and Eastern Europe, and extend the number of countries investigated to test the robustness of the relationship at the macro level. Our results indicate a strong positive relationship between the proxies for environmental social norms and volunteering in environmental organizations. The relationship persists despite our various robustness checks.     

Social Capital,Volunteering, and Charitable Giving

This paper explores the impact of social capital—measured by social trust and social networks—on individual charitable giving to religious and secular organizations. Using United States data from the national sample of the 2000 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, we find that social trust, bridging social network, and civic engagement increase the amount of giving to both religious and secular causes. In contrast, organizational activism only affects secular giving. Volunteering activity, and human and financial capital indicators positively affect both religious and secular giving. Finally, those who are happy about their lives and those who are religious give more to religious causes, but these factors do not affect secular giving. We find evidence of important differences in the determinants of religious and secular giving, suggesting the need to distinguish these two types of charitable giving in future work.

Generativity and Volunteering

The robust association between religion and volunteering and education and volunteering can be interpreted in developmental terms as a function of socialization. Churches and schools instill attitudes that predispose the individual to volunteer. Data from two waves of the National Survey of Midlife in the United States (1995 and 2005) are used to test a hypothesis that generativity—a desire to leave a legacy by providing for the welfare of others—mediates the influence of both religion and education on volunteering. Structural equation models using multiple‐imputed data to correct for attrition show that the influence of parental religiosity on volunteering in 2005 is partially explained by generativity in 1995 and that the influence of education on volunteering in 2005 is partially explained by generativity in 1995.     

Charity Transgressions, Trust and Accountability

This research demonstrates how sustained charity fraud is supported when organisations do not develop strong accountability links to salient stakeholders. Whilst increased regulation is one response to reduce charity fraud and to increase organisational accountability, regulators seldom recognise the myriad heterogeneous needs of stakeholders. This research explores the tactics employed by beneficiaries and the donating public to escalate their accountability demands on such charities. By preferring the most powerful stakeholders, charities miss the opportunity to design effective processes to discharge accountability to meet their moral obligations to legitimate stakeholders. This article calls for increased ??stakeholder understanding?? by charity governors as a policy to recognise the moral rights of these stakeholders and to reduce charity transgressions.     

Elderly Volunteering in Europe: The Relationship Between Volunteering and Quality of Life Depends on Volunteering Rates

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This paper investigates the effect of volunteering on quality of life (QoL) in 50+ populations across European countries...     

Charity Social Media Marketing and Its Influence on Charity Brand Image,Brand Trust,and Donation Intention

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This study aims to identify the outline of charity social media marketing (SMM) and to determine to what extent it...     

Sexual Pleasure and Wellbeing

ABSTRACT

Pleasure may be the key to the successful working of the reproductive systems of humans. However, for all the enjoyment sexual relationships can provide, there are countervailing forces of guilt and disappointment at work on the individual psyche. Religious and social norms enforce limits on sexual expressiveness. These controls are defended as means to protect individuals and their partners from unhappiness due to infidelity. The contrasting balance of potential pleasure on the one hand and deeply felt self-controls on the other gives rise to many problems of sexual health. Couples with discordant expectations about sexual pleasures can find their relationships crumbling. Deeply planted understandings about inappropriate behavior can cause individuals to feel shame or fear when faced with choices about their sexuality and particularly their desires. People unable to achieve desired pleasures due to physical handicaps experience a loss of wellbeing that can be extremely distressing. Simultaneously society struggles to control the individual expression of harmful sexual behavior such as child molestation while protecting the rights of individuals to enjoy personal satisfaction. The recognition and promotion of sexual pleasure as an integral part of wellbeing is one of the most challenging elements on the sexual health agenda. Progress in this area will require extraordinary efforts by professional groups and political leaders to forge a forthright understanding of the meaning of pleasure in people's lives, and the priority of promoting healthy sexuality as a part of a global health agenda.     

Ethnographies of Volunteering: Providing Nuance to the Links Between Volunteering and Development

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This paper explores how ethnographic approaches to third sector and nonprofit studies allow for context-based...     

Volunteering in Retirement and Its Impact on Seniors Subjective Quality of Life Through Personal Outlook: A Study of Older Australians

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This study examines the subjective quality of life of globally expanding senior citizens post-retirement, from a...     

Volunteering and Civic Action: Boundaries Blurring,Boundaries Redrawn

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - The aim of this introduction to the special issue is to call into question the presumed conceptual divide between...     

Religious Involvement and Participation in Volunteering: Types,Domains and Aggregate

Prior research on investigating the religion–volunteering relationship has tended to commonly treat religious involvement as single-item measures, e.g., frequency of church attendance, and has defined volunteering as a simple dummy variable (1 = volunteers, 0 = otherwise). The present study attempted to look at the above relationship by measuring religious involvement as a multifaceted and multi-item measure and volunteering as engaging in different types of voluntary activity, and specific domains and overall aggregate of volunteering. The results based on a statewide representative sample from the Survey of Texas Adults 2004 showed that religious involvement was generally and significantly related to higher volunteering across voluntary types, domains, and aggregate count of volunteering, but varied in magnitude contingent on the types and domains being examined. In addition, the religious effects were held even adjusting for a variety of pertinent socio-demographic and denominational characteristics, in which these background characteristics are more dynamic in relation to volunteering than we knew. Implications of the findings related to social services and policy making are discussed.     

Volunteering and the strategic value of ignorance

Private provision of public goods often takes place as a war of attrition: individuals wait until someone else volunteers and provides the good. After a certain time period, however, one individual may be randomly selected. If the individuals are uncertain about their cost of provision, but can find out about this cost ahead of the volunteering game, a strategic value is attached to the information, and individuals may prefer not to learn their cost of provision. If the time horizon is sufficiently short, in equilibrium only one individual may acquire information about his cost. For a long time horizon, acquiring information is strictly dominant. The time limit is an important instrument in influencing the efficiency of the volunteering game.     

What Affects Hispanic Volunteering in the United States: Comparing the Current Population Survey, Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and the AIM Giving and Volunteering Survey

This study examines Hispanic formal volunteering and the cultural, social, and community context factors that affect their decision to volunteer. Using data from three surveys in the United States, the study finds that religious attendance, cultural background, and education are the most consistent and significant predictors of Hispanic formal volunteering. Religious attendance has a stronger positive impact on Hispanic volunteering than on non-Hispanics. The impacts of income, social resources, and community characteristics on Hispanics’ volunteering vary by surveys. Secular organizations serving children and youth and religious organizations are the favorite organizations for Hispanic volunteers.     

Volunteering and Income Inequality: Cross-National Relationships

Wilkinson and Pickett, in their 2009 book The Spirit Level, found that, in rich countries, income inequality was negatively associated with a range of indicators of well-being, but they did not consider the relationship with volunteering. This paper seeks to fill that gap. Using existing data sources, it shows that, among European countries, higher levels of volunteering are associated with lower levels of income inequality. The relationship is particularly strong for regular and sport-related volunteering. The basic Spirit Level thesis is therefore confirmed as applicable to volunteering. However, while the thesis involves just one theoretical explanation for the income inequality/well-being relationship, namely status anxiety, in the case of volunteering, other variables are also found to be at play, including government social spending, available leisure time and geo-historical traditions. It is concluded that, while high levels of volunteering, as a form of social capital, can be seen as one of a number of features of more equal societies, disentangling cause and effect may require a more holistic approach to understanding its contribution to the generation and sustaining of social well-being.