The Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA) assessed the health and social functioning of a representative sample of 7527 American community-dwelling older people (> 70 years). We tested the hypothesis that frequent volunteering is associated with less mortality risk when the effects of socio-demographics, medical status, physical activity and social integration are controlled. We used Cox proportional hazards analyses to assess the unadjusted and adjusted associations between frequency of volunteering and time-to-death (96-month follow-up). Death occurred in 38.3 percent of the sample. After adjusting for covariates, frequent volunteers had significantly reduced mortality compared to non-volunteers. This association was greatest for those who frequently visited with friends or attended religious services. Copyright © 2005 SAGE Publications.
CITATION STYLE
Harris, A. H. S., & Thoresen, C. E. (2005). Volunteering is associated with delayed mortality in older people: Analysis of the longitudinal study of aging. Journal of Health Psychology, 10(6), 739–752. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105305057310
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