Meaning in Life and Volunteerism in Older Adults

Shielded by Education? The Buffering Role of Education in the Relationships Between Changes in Mental Health and Physical Functioning Through Time Among Older Europeans

This study investigated among older Europeans how physical function limitations lead to depressive symptoms and reductions in quality of life and well-being, and vice-versa. Further examined was how years of education moderate these relationships. These objectives were pursued using a sample of Europeans aged 50+ years (N = 46,492) within waves 5 (2013) and 6 (2015) of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The analyses employed conditional change multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions. Mental health was found to affect physical function limitations, and vice-versa. More education significantly reduced only how earlier mental health problems lead to later physical function limitations, plausibly because of the former's higher controllability. Thus highlighted are education-linked psychosocial resources' protective effects.

Foster Grandparent Programs' Impact on the Quality-of-Life of Older Adult Volunteers

Background/Objectives: Volunteering among older adults in the United States is rising, with rates up by 65% since 1974. With this tremendous growth in volunteering among seniors, examining how it affects them is essential. One such volunteering program we look at in this research is the Foster Grandparents Program (FGP) of the High Country, which allows older adults to volunteer at local schools to help in-need children. Previous research has shown how volunteering as an older adult positively impacts people's quality of life. This paper will explore the quality-of-life changes for the FGP older adult volunteers, explicitly comparing the quality-of-life changes with demographics and program satisfaction. Methods: This study examined the survey response of 93 participants in the FGP. Cross-tabulation and correlations evaluated the relationships between demographic variables, satisfaction with the volunteer experience, and overall changes in the quality of life of volunteers. Results: Age, gender, and years of service were not good predictors of quality-of-life changes. Satisfaction with the FGP program proved to be the best predictor for change in quality of life. Conclusions: Volunteer program management has positive effects on volunteers self-reported quality-of-life changes. Additional studies could look at how this impacts the volunteers' sense of purpose and its impact upon the time they donate to the volunteer program.

Work and active aging: is there a relationship between health and meaning in life?

Purpose

This study aims to explain the health impact of work demands and organization, job content, leadership and values in the workplace. It also explores the extent to which health conditions influence the meaning in life in late career.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample consisted of 1,330 Portuguese-based individuals aged 55–75 years. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for the data analysis and to test the research questions.

Findings

The results showed that stress and burnout are influenced by work demands and organization, job content, leadership and values in the workplace. Employment status had no influence. Health status affects the meaning in life.

Research limitations/implications

Although participants were asked to answer the questionnaire bearing in mind their last work experience, retirees could have had difficulty reporting on their last work; therefore, in future research, the use of a qualitative methodology could also be equated as to complement richer information regarding past experiences in the work context.

Practical implications

Considering the main goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, this study contributes, namely, to the third one – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. In fact, directing a look at the condition in which older people work and at their health contributes not only to more productive organizations, to less spending of public money on health, but also to a more inclusive society. Bearing in mind workers are progressively retiring later and that the exposure to certain work conditions during the late career is problematic for organizations and for society in general, this study has practical and social implication.

Originality/value

Considering demographic changes and the aging of the active population in Portugal and the scarce studies carried out in the country concerning this relevant theme, the authors believe that the conclusions may constitute an important input for workplace policies regarding older workers. In addition, little research has focused on the effect of health in meaning in life.

Benefits of volunteerism for middle-aged and older adults: comparisons between types of volunteering activities

Volunteering is a popular activity among middle-aged and older adults as means to contribute to the society and to maintain personal health and wellbeing. While the benefits of volunteering have been well-documented in the current literature, it does not tend to distinguish between various types of volunteering activities. This cross-sectional study aims to compare the effects of instrumental (e.g. food preparation, fundraising) and cognitively demanding volunteering activities (e.g. befriending, mentoring) in a sample of 487 middle-aged and older Hong Kong Chinese adults. Participation in instrumental and cognitively demanding volunteering, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, cognitive functioning and hand-grip strength were measured. The results of two-way between-subject robust analyses of variance demonstrated significant main effects of volunteering type and their interaction effect with age on life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Comparisons among four volunteering groups (no volunteering, instrumental volunteering, cognitively demanding volunteering and both types) revealed that individuals engaging in instrumental volunteering exhibited lower life satisfaction and more depressive symptoms compared to those who engaged in cognitively demanding volunteering and those who did not volunteer at all. This detrimental pattern of instrumental volunteering was only seen in middle-aged adults, but not in older adults. Findings of this study revealed distinctive effects of two volunteering types, and provide valuable directions for designing future volunteering programmes.

Meaning making in retirement transition: a qualitative inquiry into Slovak retirees

Purpose: This study is a qualitative inquiry into meaning making during retirement transition. The study focuses on how Slovak retirees reconstruct meanings during the transition and the factors which both help and hinder this process.Methods: Forty individuals (M = 63.36; SD = 2.47) who had recently transitioned into retirement were interviewed and data were analysed using the Consensual Qualitative Research-Modified approach.Results: The analysis generated five basic domains with categories and subcategories of the participants' responses. The analysis showed that once retired, the participants generally continued to rely on previous meaning sources such as work and family; however, there were changes such as switching from job-related work to work related to hobbies and housekeeping, or from financially providing for the family to maintaining family relationships and grandparenting. The main factors facilitating the meaning making process were positive attitudes and social support for meaning. The risk factors included lack of finances, poor health of retiree or a close person, and the loss of a spouse.Conclusions: In general, the research showed that the main features of the retirees' meaning making processes were maintaining accessible sources, compensating for sources lost during the transition, and managing beneficial and risk factors.

Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality

The study of meaning in life has largely centered on its relationship with personal well-being, while a focus on how meaning is related to enhancing the well-being of others has received less research attention. Although searching for meaning may imply lower personal well-being, we find that meaning-seekers are more motivated to perform costly prosocial actions for the sake of others’ well-being, given the perceived meaningfulness of these behaviors. Studies 1–4 (N = 780) show that meaning-seeking correlates with the motivation to engage in a range of costly prosocial behaviors. Meaning-seeking is further shown to be distinct from pursuing happiness in its relationship with costly prosociality (Study 2 & 3) and to share a stronger association with high-cost than low-cost prosociality (Study 3 & 4). Study 5 (N = 370; pre-registered) further shows that the search for meaning is related to costly prosocial behavior in the recent past. While our studies are cross-sectional, the pattern of findings suggests that seeking meaning (rather than happiness) may play an important role in motivating altruistic tendencies.

Assessing the Process of Retirement: a Cross-Cultural Review of Available Measures

Retirement research is now expanding beyond the post-World War II baby boomers' retirement attitudes and plans to include the nature of their workforce exit and how successfully they adjust to their new life. These elements are collectively known as the process of retirement. However, there is insufficient research in developing countries to inform the management of their ageing populations regarding this process. This review aims to facilitate national and cross-cultural research in developing and non-English speaking countries by reviewing the existing measures of the retirement process published in English and Portuguese. The review identified 28 existing measures assessing retirement attitudes, planning, decision making, adjustment and satisfaction with retirement. Information on each scale's item structure, internal reliability, grammatical structure and evidence of translations to other languages is presented. Of the 28 measures, 20 assessed retirement attitudes, plans and decision-making, 5 assessed adjustment to retirement and only two assessed retirement satisfaction. Only eight of the 28 scales had been translated into languages other than English. There is scope to translate measures of retirement attitudes and planning into other languages. However there is a paucity of translated measures of retirement decision-making and adjustment, and measures of retirement satisfaction in general. Within the limitations of this review, researchers are provided with the background to decide between translating existing measures or developing of more culturally appropriate assessment tools for addressing their research questions.