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. 2017 Jul 11;18(1):8.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4561-8.

Volunteering and health benefits in general adults: cumulative effects and forms

Jerf W K Yeung  1 , Zhuoni Zhang  2 , Tae Yeun Kim  2
Affiliations

Volunteering and health benefits in general adults: cumulative effects and forms

Jerf W K Yeung et al. BMC Public Health. .

Erratum in

  • Erratum to: BMC Public Health, Vol. 18.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] BMC Public Health. 2017 Sep 22;17(1):736. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4709-6. BMC Public Health. 2017. PMID: 28938882 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Background: Although the health benefits of volunteering have been well documented, no research has examined its cumulative effects according to other-oriented and self-oriented volunteering on multiple health outcomes in the general adult public. This study examined other-oriented and self-oriented volunteering in cumulative contribution to health outcomes (mental and physical health, life satisfaction, social well-being and depression).

Methods: Data were drawn from the Survey of Texas Adults 2004, which contains a statewide population-based sample of adults (n = 1504). Multivariate linear regression and Wald test of parameters equivalence constraint were used to test the relationships.

Results: Both forms of volunteering were significantly related to better health outcomes (odds ratios = 3.66% to 11.11%), except the effect of self-oriented volunteering on depression. Other-oriented volunteering was found to have better health benefits than did self-volunteering.

Conclusion: Volunteering should be promoted by public health, education and policy practitioners as a kind of healthy lifestyle, especially for the social subgroups of elders, ethnic minorities, those with little education, single people, and unemployed people, who generally have poorer health and less participation in volunteering.

Keywords: Cumulative effects; Health outcomes; Other-oriented volunteering; Self-oriented volunteering.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical review was not needed, as CityU does not require an ethical review of existing data, documents, or records for public use.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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