Informal Helping and Subsequent Health and Well-Being in Older U.S. Adults.

IF 2 3区心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL

International Journal of Behavioral Medicine Pub Date : 2024-08-01 Epub Date: 2023-05-26 DOI:10.1007/s12529-023-10187-w

Julia S Nakamura, Matthew T Lee, Tyler J VanderWeele, Eric S Kim

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Growing evidence suggests that informal helping (unpaid volunteering not coordinated by an organization or institution) is associated with improved health and well-being outcomes. However, studies have not investigated whether changes in informal helping are associated with subsequent health and well-being.

Methods: This study evaluated if changes in informal helping (between t₀;2006/2008 and t₁;2010/2012) were associated with 35 indicators of physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health and well-being (at t₂;2014/2016) using data from 12,998 participants in the Health and Retirement study - a national cohort of US adults aged > 50.

Results: Over the four-year follow-up period, informal helping ≥ 100 (versus 0) hours/year was associated with a 32% lower mortality risk (95% CI [0.54, 0.86]), and improved physical health (e.g., 20% reduced risk of stroke (95% CI [0.65, 0.98])), health behaviors (e.g., 11% increased likelihood of frequent physical activity (95% CI [1.04, 1.20])), and psychosocial outcomes (e.g., higher purpose in life (β = 0.15, 95% CI [0.07, 0.22])). However, there was little evidence of associations with various other outcomes. In secondary analyses, this study adjusted for formal volunteering and a variety of social factors (e.g., social network factors, receiving social support, and social participation) and results were largely unchanged.

Conclusions: Encouraging informal helping may improve various aspects of individuals' health and well-being and also promote societal well-being.

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美国老年人的非正式帮助与后续健康和幸福。

背景：越来越多的证据表明，非正式帮助（非由组织或机构协调的无偿志愿服务）与健康和幸福结果的改善有关。然而，尚未有研究调查非正式帮助的变化是否与随后的健康和福祉相关：本研究使用了 "健康与退休研究"（Health and Retirement study）中 12,998 名参与者的数据，评估了非正式帮助的变化（2006/2008 年 t0 至 2010/2012 年 t1）是否与身体、行为和社会心理健康与幸福的 35 项指标相关（2014/2016 年 t2）：结果：在四年的随访期内，非正式帮助≥ 100 小时/年（相对于 0 小时/年）与死亡率风险降低 32% （95% CI [0.54, 0.86]）和身体健康改善（例如：中风风险降低 20% （95% CI [0.54, 0.86]））相关、例如，中风风险降低 20%（95% CI [0.65，0.98]））、健康行为（例如，经常参加体育活动的可能性增加 11%（95% CI [1.04，1.20]））和社会心理结果（例如，生活目的性提高（β = 0.15，95% CI [0.07，0.22]））。然而，几乎没有证据表明与其他各种结果存在关联。在二次分析中，本研究对正式志愿服务和各种社会因素（如社会网络因素、接受社会支持和社会参与）进行了调整，结果基本保持不变：结论：鼓励非正式帮助可以改善个人健康和福祉的各个方面，同时也能促进社会福祉。

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

International Journal of Behavioral Medicine PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL-

CiteScore

5.20

自引率

3.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： The International Journal of Behavioral Medicine (IJBM) is the official scientific journal of the International Society for Behavioral Medicine (ISBM). IJBM seeks to present the best theoretically-driven, evidence-based work in the field of behavioral medicine from around the globe. IJBM embraces multiple theoretical perspectives, research methodologies, groups of interest, and levels of analysis. The journal is interested in research across the broad spectrum of behavioral medicine, including health-behavior relationships, the prevention of illness and the promotion of health, the effects of illness on the self and others, the effectiveness of novel interventions, identification of biobehavioral mechanisms, and the influence of social factors on health. We welcome experimental, non-experimental, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies as well as implementation and dissemination research, integrative reviews, and meta-analyses.