How is volunteering associated with reduced mortality? A mediator-wide approach.

IF 3.2 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY

Health Psychology Pub Date : 2025-05-01 DOI:10.1037/hea0001429

Julia S Nakamura, Koichiro Shiba, Baoyi Shi, Rachel S Leong, Tyler J VanderWeele, Eric S Kim

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: Volunteering has been repeatedly associated with reduced mortality in older adults, yet research examining the mechanisms explaining this association remains limited. We evaluated potentially modifiable mediators, and combinations of mediators, that may underlie the volunteering-mortality association.

Method: We used prospective data from 9,962 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2018), a national, diverse, and longitudinal cohort of U.S. adults aged >50. We evaluated associations between volunteering at baseline (2008/2010), mediators at Wave 2 (2010/2012), and mortality between Waves 3 and 4 (2010-2016 for Cohort A, 2012-2018 for Cohort B).

Results: After adjusting for demographic confounders and mediators in the prebaseline wave (2006/2008), we observed evidence of mediation for those who volunteered ≥100 hr/year (vs. 0 hr/year) through combined physical health factors (proportion mediated [PM] = 49.56%, p = .004) and social factors (PM = 90.76%, p = .017) as well as through increased contact with friends (PM = 25.34%, p = .015) and helping friends/neighbors/relatives (PM = 25.12%, p = .018). However, there was less evidence of mediation through other proposed mediators.

Conclusions: With further research, these results inform basic science, interventions, and policies by identifying potential mechanisms, which might become modifiable features of the volunteering experience, to promote longevity in our rapidly aging population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

查看原文本刊更多论文

志愿服务与降低死亡率有何关联？全中介人的方法。

研究目的：志愿服务与降低老年人死亡率之间的联系已被反复证实，但有关解释这种联系的机制的研究仍然有限。我们评估了潜在的可修改的中介因子，以及中介因子的组合，这些中介因子可能是志愿服务与死亡率关联的基础。方法：我们使用了健康与退休研究（2006-2018）中9962名参与者的前瞻性数据，这是一项全国性的、多样化的、纵向的美国成年人队列研究。我们评估了基线志愿活动（2008/2010）、第二阶段中介（2010/2012）和第三和第四阶段死亡率（2010-2016年为队列A， 2012-2018年为队列B）之间的关联。结果：在基线前波（2006/2008）调整了人口统计学混杂因素和中介因素后，我们观察到通过综合身体健康因素（比例中介[PM] = 49.56%, p = 0.004）和社会因素（PM = 90.76%, p = 0.017）以及通过增加与朋友的接触（PM = 25.34%, p = 0.015）和帮助朋友/邻居/亲戚（PM = 25.12%, p = 0.018），志愿者≥100小时/年（vs. 0小时/年）的中介证据。然而，通过其他拟议调解人进行调解的证据较少。结论：通过进一步的研究，这些结果将为基础科学、干预措施和政策提供信息，从而确定潜在的机制，这些机制可能成为志愿服务经历的可修改特征，从而促进我们快速老龄化人口的长寿。（PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA，版权所有）。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Health Psychology 医学-心理学

CiteScore

4.90

自引率

2.40%

发文量

170

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Health Psychology publishes articles on psychological, biobehavioral, social, and environmental factors in physical health and medical illness, and other issues in health psychology.