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VOLUNTEERISM IN OLDER ADULTHOOD: UNDERSTANDING THE FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH WELL-BEING

Approximately 270,000 seniors (55+) in the U.S. engage in volunteering through Senior Corps’ programs (Corporation for National Community and Service, 2016). Volunteering in older adulthood has been consistently connected with psychological, physical, and cognitive well-being (Carr, 2018), with a moderate level of volunteering considered optimal (Windsor, Anstey, and Rodgers, 2008). The relationship between perceived level of demands within a volunteering position (e.g., physical, social, and cognitive demands) and well-being has not been explored. The sample consisted of 110 senior volunteers in Colorado (Mage=71 years). The median number of volunteer hours over the past 12 months was 100 hours (M=157, SD=162). We investigated how hours of volunteering and characteristics of volunteer work relate to five dimensions of subjective well-being (e.g., positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment; Butler & Kern, 2016), and overall health status. Number of hours spent volunteering was positively related to one of the well-being variables, meaning (r= .21, p=.03). Volunteers who described their work as being more socially demanding reported being in worse health (r =-.28, p = .07). Volunteers who described their work as being more physically demanding indicated that they believed others were better off as a result of their work (r =.45, p =.003). The results of the present study support the positive impact of volunteering on well-being. Specifically, greater volunteering is related to a sense of purpose in life or sense that life matters. These results also indicate that exploring the impact of volunteer work characteristics may be a direction for future research.