Purpose in life, boredom, and volunteerism in a group of retirees

Art Value Creation and Destruction

I present a theory of creative and destructive value state referring to abstract art. Value is a probabilistic state held as a mixture of its expectation and information forces that coexist in a give-and-take relationship. Expectations are driven by the disclosure of novel information about the value state of various events of desire. Each bit of accumulated information contributes to the improvement of perception up to a threshold level, beyond which begin conscious states. The desire to disclose a value state triggers a triadic system of evaluation which uses concepts, observables and approaches. While the triadic valuation mechanisms can be used to assess various commodities, the scope of this work is limited to the case of artworks, in particular abstract paintings. I assume that art value is basically mediated by the interplay between these value state mechanisms of creation and destruction. Expectations in artwork develop attraction by challenging its contemplator to evaluate (predict) its meaning. Once the relevant information, corresponding to its creative expectations, is acquired (and conditioned), emotional states of indifference, disinterest and desensitization develop.

Boredom in art

In the light of recent findings on the nature of boredom, I argue that boredom is a potentially useful emotion in art reception and show how the Distancing-Embracing model can be applied to boredom.

The Moral Dimensions of Boredom: A Call for Research

Despite the impressive progress that has been made on both the empirical and conceptual fronts of boredom research, there is one facet of boredom that has received remarkably little attention. This is boredom's relationship to morality. The aim of this article is to explore the moral dimensions of boredom and to argue that boredom is a morally relevant personality trait. The presence of trait boredom hinders our capacity to flourish and in doing so hurts our prospects for a moral life.

Volunteerism as an Occupation and its Relationship to Health and Wellbeing

Occupational therapy philosophy asserts a positive relationship between occupation and health and aims to promote and restore health through enabling occupation. This study aimed to explore volunteerism as an occupation and its possible relationship to health and wellbeing from an occupational science perspective and to consider how this knowledge might be used to inform occupational therapy practice.

Qualitative and quantitative methods were used, with a sample of 109 volunteers. The qualitative data are presented here and comprise written responses to two open-ended questions. The first asked the volunteers about their motivations to volunteer (MTVs) and the second asked the volunteers to describe their personal experiences of volunteering (PEVs). These data were analysed to identify patterns of MTVs and themes relating to the costs and benefits of volunteering to health and wellbeing.

The findings revealed a range of MTVs, both altruistic and egoistic, as well as many and varied benefits of volunteering, providing some support for a positive relationship between volunteerism and health and wellbeing. Volunteering appeared to exert its positive effects predominantly on aspects of mental health by providing opportunities to increase confidence and self-esteem, gain social support, replace lost roles and feel included in community life. The pattern of benefits seemed to reflect the volunteers' motivations, suggesting that benefits to health may be mediated by the MTV; this was consistent with the occupational therapy philosophy that occupations need to be meaningful and purposeful to hold therapeutic value.

The article concludes that engaging in a volunteer role has many potential benefits to health and wellbeing, particularly to aspects of mental health. This may have implications for the occupational therapy profession. For occupational therapists working with clients experiencing mental health problems, there may be some therapeutic value in enabling their clients to engage in a volunteer role. Future research with occupational therapists working in this area could establish if volunteerism has been used as a therapeutic occupation and its outcomes, thereby informing occupational therapy practice.

The Effect of the Psychological Sense of Community on the Psychological Well-Being in Older Volunteers

Ageing populations across Europe are increasing. Communities have an important role in not only engaging this segment of the population but also in helping them to make them feel “part of something” (local or global) in order to favour their psychological well-being. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of volunteering and being connected in one’s community on well-being. The present paper will test an older volunteers’ psychological well-being model. 143 older volunteers completed measures of religiousness, sense of global responsibility, psychological sense of community, generativity, motivation to volunteer and a profile of mood states. Data show that a psychological sense of community has a key role in the study of older volunteerism due to its impact on well-being. Service agencies and administrations can develop campaigns to sustain older volunteerism in order to increase well-being and reduce social costs.

A prospective study of volunteerism and hypertension risk in older adults

The purpose of the current study was to determine whether volunteerism is prospectively associated with hypertension risk among older adults. Participants provided data during the 2006 and 2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal panel survey using a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling older adults (age > 50 years). Volunteerism and blood pressure were measured at baseline and again 4 years later. Analyses excluded individuals hypertensive at baseline and controlled for age, race, sex, education, baseline systolic/diastolic blood pressure, and major chronic illnesses. Those who had volunteered at least 200 hr in the 12 months prior to baseline were less likely to develop hypertension (OR = 0.60; 95% CI [0.40, 0.90]) than nonvolunteers. There was no association between volunteerism and hypertension risk at lower levels of volunteer participation. Volunteering at least 200 hr was also associated with greater increases in psychological well-being (B = 0.99, β = .05, p = .006) and physical activity (B = 0.21, β = .05, p = .04) compared with nonvolunteers; however, these factors did not explain the association of volunteerism with hypertension risk.

Development and Validation of the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale

This article describes the development and validation of the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (MSBS)—the first and only full-scale measure of state boredom. It was developed based on a theoretically and empirically grounded definition of boredom. A five-factor structure of the scale (Disengagement, High Arousal, Low Arousal, Inattention, and Time Perception) was supported by exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses of two independent samples. Furthermore, all subscales were significantly related to a single, second-order factor. The MSBS factor structure was shown to be invariant across gender. MSBS scores were significantly correlated with measures of trait boredom, depression, anxiety, anger, inattention, impulsivity, neuroticism, life satisfaction, and purpose in life. Finally, MSBS scores distinguished between participants who were experimentally manipulated into a state of boredom and those who were not, above and beyond measures of trait boredom, negative affect, and depression.

Factor Structure, Reliability and Convergent Validity of the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey for Older Adults

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS) (Goldberg, Brintnell, & Goldberg, 2002) in a sample of older adults living in the greater Los Angeles area. The EMAS evidenced moderate test-retest reliability (r = .56) and good internal consistency (α = .89). Exploratory factor analysis (principal components) discerned a two-component structure within the EMAS, indicative of Personal-Competence and Social-Experiential meaning. The EMAS demonstrated theoretically predicted zero-order correlations with measures of meaning and purpose in life, depressive symptomology, life satisfaction, and health-related quality of life. Regression analyses discerned that purpose and meaning in life consistently predicted the EMAS and its components. Furthermore, persons reporting greater levels of Social-Experiential relative to Personal-Competence meaning had the lowest levels of physical health-related quality of life. This study offers initial evidence in support of the EMAS as a valid measure of meaningful activity in older adults.

Convergent Validity of the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey in a College Sample

The Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS) (Goldberg, Brintnell, & Goldberg, 2002) demonstrated sufficient psychometric properties in a sample of 122 adults. The EMAS was found to have adequate test—retest (r = .71) and internal consistency (α = .88) reliability; significant positive correlations between the EMAS and the subscales of the Basic Psychological Needs Scale and the Sources of Meaning Profile and negative zero-order correlations were found with short form versions of the Boredom Proneness Scale and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales. Step-wise multiple regression analysis results showed the Sources of Meaning Profile, Boredom Proneness Scale, and Competence subscale of the Basic Psychological Needs scale best predicted the EMAS. These results lend additional construct validity evidence in support of the EMAS as a brief measure of meaningful activity participation.

The Meaningful Activity Participation Assessment: a measure of engagement in personally valued activities

The Meaningful Activity Participation Assessment (MAPA), a recently developed 28-item tool designed to measure the meaningfulness of activity, was tested in a sample of 154 older adults. The MAPA evidenced a sufficient level of internal consistency and test-retest reliability and correlated as theoretically predicted with the Life Satisfaction Index-Z, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey, the Purpose in Life Test, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Inventory and the Rand SF-36v2 Health Survey subscales. Zero-order correlations consistently demonstrated meaningful relationships between the MAPA and scales of psychosocial well-being and health-related quality of life. Results from multiple regression analyses further substantiated these findings, as greater meaningful activity participation was associated with better psychological well-being and health-related quality of life. The MAPA appears to be a reliable and valid measure of meaningful activity, incorporating both subjective and objective indicators of activity engagement.

On the relationship between meaning in life and boredom proneness: examining a logotherapy postulate

Logotherapy, developed by Viktor Frankl, posits that when one lacks meaning in life, boredom can result. Thus, the two constructs should be inversely related. To examine this relationship, 279 students (M = 19.8 yr., SD = 2.6; 179 women, 98 men) from a university in the southern United States were administered the Purpose of Life test and the Boredom Proneness Scale. As expected, a statistically significant negative correlation was found between the scores on the two scales (r = -.71). Directions for research are offered.

Psychometric Measures of Boredom: A Review of the Literature

This research presents a review of the psychometric measures on boredom that have been developed over the past 25 years. Specifically, the author examined the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS; R. Farmer & N. D. Sundberg, 1986), the job boredom scales by E. A. Grubb (1975) and T. W. Lee (1986), a boredom coping measure (J. A. Hamilton, R. J. Haier, & M. S. Buchsbaum, 1984), 2 scales that assess leisure and free-time boredom (S. E. Iso-Ahola & E. Weissinger, 1990; M. G. Ragheb & S. P. Merydith, 2001), the Sexual Boredom Scale (SBS; J. D. Watt & J. E. Ewing, 1996), and the Boredom Susceptibility (BS) subscale of the Sensation Seeking Scale (M. Zuckerman, 1979a). Particular attention is devoted to discussing the literature regarding the psychometric properties of the BPS because it is the only full-scale measure on the construct of boredom.

Pro bono work and nonmedical volunteerism among U.S. women physicians

OBJECTIVE

To determine women physicians' rates of pro bono work and nonmedical volunteerism. We examined data from the Women Physician's Health Study (WPHS), a cross-sectional survey conducted in 1993-1994 of 4501 U.S. women physicians aged 30-70 years.

RESULTS

Of this group, 71% participated in either pro bono work (among those participating, a median of 4 hours/week), nonmedical volunteering (2 hours/week), or both. Predictors of pro bono work were subspecialty training, practice site, practice location, on-call nights, work hours, and hours nonmedical volunteering. Predictors of nonmedical volunteering were age, ethnicity, marital status, number of children, religion, practice site, practice location, work hours, political identification, and the performance of pro bono services.

CONCLUSIONS

A substantial majority of women physicians volunteer their time. These data on characteristics of volunteers can help us understand and motivate physicians giving behaviors.

Motivation, personality and well-being in older volunteers

This study examined the effects of personality traits and motivation to volunteer on well-being as 107 older participants went through an intervention to increase volunteering. Three groups of volunteers, current, new, and former volunteers, participated. Participants were assessed four times on standardized measures of personality, health, motivation, and well-being: before and after a wait period, after volunteering, and at one year follow-up. There were no differences between pre, post and follow-up well-being. Regression analysis indicated that health, personality traits and motivation predicted well-being at pre-intervention. In contrast, after the intervention, regression analysis indicated that the interaction of higher neuroticism and greater motivation scores predicted lower well-being compared to other volunteers. One year follow-up results indicated that personality traits and health predicted well-being and that higher initial motivation predicted drop-outs while those continuing to volunteer increased their motivation scores.

Boredom proneness and psychosocial development

The effect of boredom proneness as measured by the Boredom Proneness Scale (R. F. Farmer & N. D. Sundberg, 1986) on college students' psychosocial development was investigated via the Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Assessment (SDTLA; R. B. Winston, T. K. Miller, & J. S. Prince, 1995). Low boredom-prone students had significantly higher scores on the following SDTLA measures: career planning, lifestyle planning, peer relationships, educational involvement, instrumental autonomy, emotional autonomy, interdependence, academic autonomy, and salubrious lifestyle. Gender differences on boredom proneness and psychosocial development measures are discussed.

Efficacy of volunteerism for role-loss depression: a complement to Weinstein, et al

Weinstein, et al. (1995) noted that volunteer work is related to decreased boredom and an increased sense of purpose in life, however, additional salient factors likely contribute to the therapeutic efficacy of volunteerism, since a literature review indicated that volunteer work is intrinsically associated with those criteria that have been empirically shown to enhance well-being.