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STUDY SHOWS VOLUNTEERING LINKED TO LONGEVITY | |
| Contact: Alex Harris Phone: 650-493-5000, x23423 Email: Alexander.Harris2@med.va.gov Embargoed until: March 5, 2004 |
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Vancouver, BC, Canada - Volunteering may not only help people feel good about themselves, it may actually help them live longer. That is the finding of a study on the effects of volunteering on longevity in older adults conducted by Dr. Alex Harris of the Center for Health Care Evaluation, VA Palo Alto and Dr. Carl Thoresen of Stanford University. Results of the study were presented for the first time at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Meeting, held March 2-6 in Vancouver, BC. The study examined data from The Longitudinal Study of Aging that assessed the health and social functioning of a representative sample of 7527 American community-dwelling people age 70 years or older. The researchers tested the hypothesis that frequent volunteering is associated with less mortality risk when the effects of demographics, health status, physical activity, and social support are controlled. "This study suggests older people who volunteer frequently live longer than people who never volunteer. The volunteering-longevity association remained significant even after controlling for important factors, such as health status, social support, and physical activity. After controlling for these factors, frequent volunteers had a 19% reduction in mortality risk compared to non-volunteers. " Harris said. "Volunteering may actually cause increased longevity, by enriching social networks or providing a medium for increased physical activity, but other explanations for our results exist. For example, it could be that certain personality characteristics, not measured in this study, result in both volunteering and longer life." "Four previous studies of older people have found evidence of this link between volunteering and longevity. Our study replicates and adds weight to these previous findings. We also looked at the personal characteristics that predict a stronger or weaker link between volunteering and longevity. This part of our study yielded the most interesting and surprising results." The researchers assumed that individuals with lower social support and integration might have the most to gain from the social opportunities afforded through volunteering. They found the opposite to be true. Volunteers who visited with friends or attended religious services lived 30% longer than volunteers who did not. The underlying reasons for this finding are unclear. The researchers speculated that close social relationships and religious service attendance may act as scaffolds from which the volunteering experience is more developmentally significant and beneficial. | |
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Psychosomatic Medicine is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychosomatic Society, published bimonthly. For information about the journal, contact Vicki White, Managing Editor for Manuscript Production,
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