Abstract
Introduction. Research on outcomes of volunteering in later life largely focuses on the health of volunteers. This is in contrast to studies of youth, where attention is directed toward the effects of volunteering on subsequent productive and citizen behaviors. In this study, we examined the effects of volunteering on subsequent social and civic activity of older adults. Method. This study was conducted with volunteers from Experience Corps® (EC), a national program that brings older adults into schools to work with students. Data were derived from a baseline survey of older adults who were new EC volunteers in fall of 2006 and 2007. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 338 volunteers in fall 2010 to capture work, education, and community activities undertaken subsequent to joining EC. Results. Subsequent to joining EC, 16% of volunteers reported that they started a new job, 53% started another volunteer position, 40% started a community activity, and 39% took a class/started educational program. When asked if and how EC participation played a role in their new involvements, 71% said it increased confidence, 76% said it increased realization of the importance of organized activities/daily structure, and more than 40% said they made social connections that led to new involvements. Most reported they were more likely to be involved in advocacy efforts for public education. Discussion. Volunteering among older adults is a means as well as an end—just as it is for young people. Programs can do more to attract and serve older adults by promoting volunteering as a pathway to other engagements, including work, social, and civic activities.
Research on outcomes of volunteering in later life largely focuses on the physical and mental health of volunteers. This research focus is in contrast to studies on youth, where attention is directed toward the effects that volunteering has on life trajectories and subsequent productive and civic engagements. It is likely the case that participation in volunteering also influences future behaviors and activities of older adults. In this study, we examine the effects of volunteer participation on subsequent social and civic activity of older volunteers. This study is conducted with Experience Corps®, a nation-wide program that brings older adults into public elementary schools to work with students to improve their academic achievement.
Background
The primary intended outcome of volunteering is to meet the needs of nonprofit and public organizations that engage these volunteers. The anticipated outcomes of volunteer service vary widely, ranging from the impacts on individuals via tutoring, coaching, and educating to the impacts on communities via building housing or cleaning up neighborhoods. In the case of Experience Corps (EC), the primary target for change is the academic achievement of elementary school children; and indeed, evaluations demonstrate that the children read better because of their involvement with EC (Gattis et al., 2010; Lee, Morrow-Howell, Jonson-Reid, McCrary, & Spitznagel, 2012; Rebok et al., 2004).
A great deal of research has focused on the effects of volunteering on the volunteers themselves. Over the last two decades, volunteering has been promoted as a win-win among the young and old alike and considered to produce positive outcomes for both the recipients of the service and the volunteers themselves. Increasingly, volunteering has been viewed as an intervention to change the individual volunteer in some positive ways. Indeed, in his recent feature article for Time magazine, Joe Klein (2013) reports on how powerful, meaningful, and therapeutic the act of volunteering can be in the lives of returning veterans.
Interestingly, the literature on the outcomes of volunteering is distinctly different when considering age. The literature on older volunteers has focused more on the effects of the volunteer service on the targeted service recipients. For example, programs relying on older volunteers have been shown to improve high school graduation rates and increase immunizations rates (Morrow-Howell, Carden, & Sherraden, 2005). Furthermore, when considering the effects of volunteering on the older volunteers themselves, the emphasis has been primarily on measures of health and well-being: decreased mortality (Musick, Herzog, & House, 1999), increased physical function (Lum & Lightfoot, 2005), increased self-reported health (Hong & Morrow-Howell, 2010), decreased depressive symptoms (Musick & Wilson, 2003), and increased life satisfaction (Van Willigen, 2000).
In contrast, studies examining the outcomes of volunteering among younger populations have focused more attention on the younger volunteers themselves and comparatively less on the outcomes to service recipients (McBride, Pritzker, Daftary, & Fengyan, 2006). Evidence suggests that volunteering leads to the following outcomes for younger volunteers: more connectedness to their community, higher likelihood of choosing public service careers, higher rates of continued volunteering, and higher likelihood of rates of pursuing more education (Finlay, Wray-Lake, & Flanagan, 2011). It has also been noted that, as youth develop connections with organizations and communities, they develop an affinity and identification with the mission and cause of the group (Pearce & Larson, 2006). This process may also contribute to the enhancement of other forms of civic engagement, such as fundraising and participation in social action (Snyder, 2009). In the literature, minimal attention has been paid to the well-being of younger volunteers, such as their mental health or life satisfaction.
In addition to focusing on different outcomes for younger versus older volunteers, research has also demonstrated that the underlying motivations to volunteer differ between these groups. Older adults are frequently motivated by altruistic and humanitarian values (Yoshioka, Brown, & Ashcraft, 2007) and tend to have a stronger service orientation than their younger counterparts (Omoto, Synder, & Martino, 2000). Younger volunteers, on the other hand, are more likely to be motivated by career development (Souza & Dhami, 2008) and have a stronger orientation toward social relationship building (Omoto et al., 2000).
In attempts to describe the motivations of older adults to volunteer in later life, terms such as “giving back,” “leaving a legacy,” and being “generative” are often used (McAdams, 2001; Son & Wilson, 2011). In contrast, when attempting to explain the reasons that younger adults volunteer, a different set of terms are used, like “building capacity,” “developing citizenship,” “forming identity,” and “increasing skills” (Flanagan & Levine, 2010; McBride et al., 2006). While these concepts might make sense from a human development or a life course perspective, we suggest that these different orientations are incomplete and pose the danger of constraining volunteering as simply an “end” for older adults and a “means” for younger adults.
While we advocate for research on volunteering that is guided by human development across the life course, there may be age bias in our approach to studying volunteering among older adults; or at least that there may be structural lag. The structural lag perspective (Maddox, 1996; Riley & Riley, 1994) highlights the asynchrony between slowly changing social structures and institutions and the abilities and preferences of the rapidly growing older adult population. Currently, older adults are working longer and seeking more opportunities for continued education to support ongoing career and personal development. Work and educational institutions are beginning to respond to these shifting demographic demands, albeit slowly. The public and nonprofit sector may benefit from a wider vision of what older volunteers can gain from their volunteer experiences; and perhaps organizations can introduce new practices that are more responsive to varied needs and aspirations of older adults.
This study was conducted with volunteers from the EC program. EC has been in existence for almost 20 years and currently operates in 19 cities across the country. The national office ensures certain standards and requires that certain procedures be in place at each local program. There are differences in the nature of the volunteer experience due to contextual differences in regions of the country and school districts. However, strategies to achieve the goal of improving reading and educational attainment are similar and include one-to-one tutoring, small group academic help, and providing assistance to teachers (http://www.aarp.org/experience-corps/).
This study considers whether volunteering changes life trajectories and leads to further engagement for older adults. From a large nationwide sample of EC volunteers, the aim was to understand how volunteering affects the subsequent social and civic participation of older adults. Research questions include (a) To what extent do EC volunteers start new work, volunteer, educational or other community activities subsequent to joining the EC program; and do they attribute EC program involvement to these new engagements? (b) What demographic factors are associated with these subsequent activity engagements? and (c) Does participation in the EC program influence attitudes about social issues—in this case, public education?
Method
Design and Sampling
Data to answer the research questions were collected as part of a larger, longitudinal study of the EC program that assessed the effects of service on the volunteer. At the beginning of the 2006 and 2007 academic year, the research team solicited the participation of all new volunteers coming into EC from the 18 program sites in existence at that time. Inclusion criteria included the following: first time volunteer to the EC program, serving part- or full-time, being 50 years of age or older, ability to conduct the interview in English, and not dropping out between the time of volunteering and the beginning of service. There were a total of 682 new volunteers who met the criteria over 2 years. In fall 2010, after the parent study had been completed for 2 years, attempts were made to relocate the volunteers who joined the program in 2006 or 2007 to understand more about their activities after serving in the EC program. Of the original sample of 682, 523 individuals were deemed eligible for this follow-up because they met the original study criteria, agreed to participate in all aspects of the parent study, and did not die in the period of the parent study. Of the 523 deemed eligible for this follow-up study, researchers were able to locate and interview 338 of these members (65% response rate). Of the 185 who were not included, 96 could not be located, 80 refused, and 9 were deceased.
Data Collection
Data for this study derived from the baseline interview of the parent study, collected when the older adult first volunteered for EC, and a follow-up interview 3 to 4 years later. For both interviews, trained interviewers contacted the study participants via telephone and completed a 45-minute survey. Institutional review board approval was obtained prior to the initiation of any study procedures.
Baseline interviews included demographic characteristics, including gender, age, education, income, employment, marital status, and living arrangement, as well as volunteering history. Ethnicity was divided into three categories (Caucasian, African American, and other, which was predominantly Hispanic and Asian). EC volunteers reported income in 11 categories, ranging from less than $5,000 to $75,000 or more, with a mean of 7.08 ($30-35,000/year). However, based on guidelines from the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics (2008), income data were collapsed into two categories, capturing low income versus not low income (>$25,000 a year). The following variables were recorded dichotomously: married/partnered, lived alone, retired, looking for work, and prior volunteer experience. Descriptions of these variables are reported in Table 1.
Description of Study Sample (n = 338).
The follow-up survey included a series of questions about if and how participation in the EC program changed volunteers’ lives. Respondents were asked if participation in the program changed their lives for the better, for the worse, or neither; and if it did change their lives, did it change it a little, some or a lot. Interviewers queried about new activities initiated since joining EC and provided the respondents with the month and year that they joined EC as a reminder. Interviewers queried about activities related to working, volunteering, education/training, and community activities. For example, the question read “Now I’ll ask a few questions about other community activities you may have begun since (month and year). Have you started any other social or community activities like recreational groups or civic organizations?” If the respondent indicated that she/he had undertaken one of these activities during that time frame, there was a follow-up open-ended question to collect information on the type of new activity (what type of work or community activity?) and if participation in EC had influenced her/his engagement in this activity. For example, if the respondent reported that she/he had begun working since the time that she/he first volunteered for EC, we said “Now I am going to read a list of ways that EC might have influenced your employment path. Please tell me if any of the following apply.” The interviewers then read a list of ways that EC volunteering might lead to the other engagements and recorded a yes/no response (see Table 3 for the list of possible ways).
The interview also included close-ended and open-ended questions about respondents’ experience working in elementary schools through the EC program, as well as whether their involvement in the program changed their views or outlook on public education. There was a series of statements regarding the effects of the program on their views (“I am more likely to vote in favor of educational funding”), with a four-point response option from very true to not true at all.
Data Analysis
Data from the 2010 follow-up survey were merged with baseline data. There was a negligible amount of missing data, and case-wise deletion in the regression analyses reduced the sample by 20 observations at the most; thus we did not impute missing data. Descriptive statistics were used to answer the research questions about the extent to which EC influenced subsequent activity engagement and attitudes about public education. Binary logistic regression was used to identify demographic factors related to subsequent involvement (yes/no) in each of the four activity areas: working, volunteering, education, and community.
Results
Among 338 study participants, the large majority (84%, n = 283) reported that participation in EC changed their lives for the better; 16% (n = 55) said it did not change their lives. Of those who reported a positive change, 16% (n = 46) reported that participation positively changed their lives a little, 39% (n = 109) reported some change, and 45% (n = 127) reported that EC changed their lives a lot.
When queried about new activity engagements, 17% (n = 55) of EC members started a new job after they joined EC, 53% (n = 176) started a new volunteer commitment, 40% (n = 131) engaged in other social or community activities, and 38% (n = 124) started a new education or training program. One quarter reported no new involvements in any of these categories during the specified time frame.
The majority of EC members who began new work after joining EC went into jobs associated with teaching and education (41%, n = 23). In regard to new volunteering, there was a wide range of types of engagement, but educational programs were most common (18%, n =32), followed by activities with religious organizations (14%, n = 25). New community activities included book clubs (19%, n = 25) and neighborhood associations (17%, n = 22). Class types included computer (14%, n = 17) and job/volunteer training (11%, n = 14).
Table 2 presents findings regarding factors associated with new activity engagements since joining EC. Findings revealed that level of educational attainment was associated with higher levels of all types of new engagement—more educated EC volunteers were more likely to engage in new work, volunteer, educational, and community activities. Females more frequently joined educational classes and community activities than their male counterparts; but there were no significant gender differences in terms of working or volunteering. Those EC members who were looking for work when they joined EC were more likely to begin a new job and tended to be younger. They were also more likely to have terminated EC volunteering, suggesting that new employment may have substituted for the EC commitment.
Factors Associated With New Activity Engagements.
Note. Boldface indicates statistical significance.
p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Table 3 presents findings on the type of mechanisms that might have influenced subsequent activity engagement. Most respondents listed more than one way that EC participation played a role in their life trajectories. As seen in Table 3, the findings are similar if one considers the individual activities separately or all the activities taken together. The most commonly cited mechanism that influenced subsequent activity revealed that EC simply “increased desire to do things outside of the home” (77.8%), followed closely by “increased realization regarding importance of organized activities/daily structure” (75.8%). Two other mechanisms were also highly endorsed at similar levels: increased confidence (72.2%) and increased skills/knowledge (70.8%). Making a connection and increased motivation were less frequently endorsed, but still not negligible.
Type of Ways That Experience Corps® Participation Influences Subsequent Activity Engagement for Those Indicating Each New Activity.
Eighty-six percent of EC members (n = 285) reported that involvement in public schools changed their views on public education. Some of the relevant specific reported changes included “made me an advocate of younger people in the public school system,” “gave true perspective of challenges of educating kids in the inner city,” “gave me insight on conditions of school; how in need the children really were,” and “made me realize how hard elementary school teachers with large classes have to work.” Table 4 shows the variety of ways in which involvement in EC affected attitudes, knowledge, and civic actions. As indicated by mean levels of agreement, respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were more likely to vote in favor of funding, more interested in public education, more likely to express their view, and more knowledgeable about educational programs/policies. The most strongly endorsed items were increased awareness of the needs of children and better understanding of teachers’ jobs.
Changes in Attitudes and Actions Regarding Public Education.
1 = not at all true; 4 = very true.
Discussion
Many EC respondents reported that they started new work, volunteer, community, and educational activities since joining the program. Although the study design does not allow for a definitive conclusion that participation in EC directly led to these activities, these findings do suggest that participation in EC is a pathway to other productive social and civic activities. EC members endorsed a variety of ways that the program facilitated future engagement. Although making connections and increasing skills, motivation, and confidence were frequently reported, the positive experiences of “getting out of the house” and “having more structure in life” appeared to be the most influential factors from the older volunteers’ point of view. Findings also indicated that when older adults served in public schools, they changed their attitudes about public education. EC members reported an increased likelihood of engaging in citizen behaviors, such as voting or attending a meeting.
The findings of this study regarding pathways to work are timely because of several recent trends in employment. There is a trend toward older adults staying in the workforce longer (Munnell & Sass, 2008). The 2008 recession revealed more clearly what has been observed before: when older adults lose jobs, they have a harder time re-entering the workforce than younger workers (Garibaldi, Martins, & van Ours, 2010). There are also situations where older workers seek to change jobs in order to continue to work, but they desire to do something different (Freedman, 2008).
In the face of these trends, job placement services for older adults have grown, including training, professional development, and job counseling services. However, findings from this study support another viable path to work for older adults—volunteering. Findings from this study support the recent report by the Corporation for National and Community Service (Spera, Ghertner, Nerino, & DiTommaso, 2013), which documented that adult volunteers have a 27% higher likelihood of employment than nonvolunteers. This study’s findings about subsequent educational activities are also related to employment, given that the most commonly reported courses were related to computers or job/volunteer training.
There are programmatic implications of these findings regarding employment. Volunteer programs can use this information in their efforts to recruit volunteers. Recruitment has often relied on appealing to altruistic and generative motives, and to a lesser degree on the positive effects volunteering has on health and well-being, as highlighted on the Aging Network’s Volunteer Collaborative website (The Aging Network’s Volunteer Collaborative, 2013). This study suggests that the pool of older volunteers might be increased by appealing to professional and personal development motives. Marketing strategies could focus on volunteering as a pathway to skill and career development.
It is also noteworthy that EC service seemed to influence the attitudes and intentions of the older volunteers with regard to the social issue of public education. We do not know whether or not these volunteers actually became involved in advocacy efforts, but the findings suggest that certain volunteer programs could foster the development of social change agents. Currently, there is a growing interest in mobilizing older adults as advocates (Adler & Goggin, 2005). Compared with younger people, they often have more experience, perspective, and resources to devote, and from a developmental perspective, they are often motivated to work for social change. This study suggests that we could broaden the vision of volunteering in later life to include educating and activating older citizens on key social issues—education, the environment, neighborhood violence, and so on. Perhaps shaping our traditional volunteer programs for older adults closer to the service-learning model so widely used in programs for young adults could yield a more engaged citizenry across the life course.
This study also suggested that EC volunteers go on to engage in new activities of many types. That is, volunteering can be viewed as a pathway to more engagement, in general. With the exception of the finding that women were more likely to start new educational activities, there is no evidence to suggest that more vulnerable older adults—those with lower educational attainment, lower income, single, or individuals that live alone—are more likely to begin new activities. In fact, it appears that more highly educated individuals and those with volunteer histories reported more new engagements. Thus, these findings support the idea that active people are more likely to stay active, and that engagement breeds more engagement. These trends have been well documented with regard to volunteering (Musick & Wilson, 2008).
A point of concern for volunteer organizations is the implication that participation in the EC program can be viewed as a means to other involvements. Turnover and retention of volunteers is always a major issue for organizations, given the costs associated with recruitment and training (Foster-Bey, Grimm, & Dietz, 2007). Organizations may see a conflict of interest in advertising how volunteering can lead to jobs or new community involvement, as it seems counter to the goal of increasing volunteer tenure at their organization. Indeed, these results do show that those who went on to a new job after joining EC were less likely to still be volunteering for EC. Thus, the benefits to the individual and the community as well as the possibility of recruiting more volunteers will have to be weighed against the risk of higher volunteer turnover.
In general, volunteer programs do not offer systematic programming to facilitate new and wider engagements for volunteers. These programs could potentially offer workshops, coaching, events, or service-learning opportunities to increase the engagement of older adults. One possibility is innovative programming between the volunteer, educational, and employment sectors, where pathways between (in either direction) are formalized and facilitated. For example, volunteers could be expected to make a certain level of commitment in exchange for job searching and placement services; and employers could connect older workers to volunteer or educational opportunities in preparation for transition out of the job.
This study sheds some light on the mechanisms through which volunteering engenders behavior change. Previous conceptualizations suggest that volunteering increases social and human capital, which in turn leads to employment. There is evidence that this holds true for this sample of older volunteers because many endorsed the pathways involving social connections, knowledge, skills, and confidence. Yet, in this study, the most common reasons given by volunteers for their new engagements was learning that it was good to get out of the house and having daily structure. The EC program indeed requires commitment to a schedule; and both teachers and students expect the volunteers to be there. These “pulls” may help overcome disconnection experienced by some older adults who find themselves separated from earlier routines demanded by family and work life.
These findings suggest that more assertive attempts to recruit older adults, especially more disconnected older adults, may lead to more social engagement and may promote healthy aging. This particular finding also suggests that underlying mechanisms of change associated with volunteering might be different for younger and older populations. Further empirical efforts are needed to compare the extent to which younger and older volunteers endorse the various mechanisms underlying the pathways that lead from volunteering to work, education, and civic engagement.
The limitations of this study include the inability to claim causality. There is no comparison group of older adults to assess the number and types of new engagements over a comparable period of time. Therefore, we can only infer that volunteering for the EC program served as a pathway because volunteering for EC preceded the new engagements temporally, and because of the mechanisms endorsed by the respondents. Furthermore, there is considerable attrition over the 4-year period from the parent baseline survey, and thus the study sample is select, due to loss of contact, refusal, and death. Also, all measures of new activities and possible influences of the EC program are self-report and retrospective. Finally, the EC volunteers tend to be more highly educated and more likely to be women than the older population in general. This may be explained by the nature of the work—tutoring children in a school setting. Finding may only apply to volunteers in similar types of programs.
Despite these limitations, the findings suggest that participation in EC motivates and enables older adults to become more engaged in productive and civic activities. Furthermore, program participation can raise awareness about public issues, like education, and potentially activate older adults to be more civically involved. This study supports a more comprehensive vision for volunteering in later life, a similar vision that has been in place for younger adults—that volunteering is a pathway to new involvements, new attitudes, and new behaviors. These data suggest that civic service among the older population can be viewed as a means as well as an end, just as it is for young people.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Funding provided by The Atlantic Philanthropies.
Supplement Issue Note
This article is part of an open access supplement “Fostering Engagement and Independence: Opportunities and Challenges for an Aging Society,” published in SOPHE’s Health Education & Behavior. This supplement was supported by funding provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Healthy Aging Program (Cooperative Agreement #U38HM000454) via the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and from a grant provided by the Retirement Research Foundation. Views presented herein do not represent the official views of the CDC.