社会心理的
心理学
心理健康
心理干预
健康与退休研究
老年学
抑郁症状
老年人
认知
感知
临床心理学
成功老龄化
医学
精神科
神经科学
作者
Meng Huo,Loren M. Miller,Kyungmin Kim,Siwei Liu
出处
期刊:Gerontologist
[Oxford University Press]
日期:2020-10-26
卷期号:61 (7): 1131-1140
被引量:12
标识
DOI:10.1093/geront/gnaa164
摘要
Scholars argue that volunteering enhances social, physical, and cognitive activities that are increasingly valued as people age, which in turn improves older adults' well-being via a host of psychosocial and neurobiological mechanisms. This study explicitly tested older adults' self-perceptions of aging as a mechanism underlying the mental health benefits of volunteering.Using 2-wave data from the Health and Retirement Study (2008/2010 for Wave 1 and 2012/2014 for Wave 2), we analyzed reports from a pooled sample of older adults aged 65 or older (N = 9,017). Participants reported on demographic characteristics, volunteer work (did not volunteer, 1-99 h/year, 100+ h/year), self-perceptions of aging, and depressive symptoms. We estimated an autoregressive cross-lagged panel model.Volunteering for 100 h or more per year was associated with older adults' more positive and less negative self-perceptions of aging in the subsequent wave (i.e., 4 years later), which in turn predicted fewer depressive symptoms.This study suggests the promising role of volunteering in shaping older adults' self-perceptions of aging on a sustained basis and refines our understanding of the benefits volunteering brings. Findings shed light on future interventions aimed at improving older adults' adjustment to age-related changes and lessening ageism in society.
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