Resumen de Do Volunteering and Charity Pay Off? Well-being Benefits of Participating in Voluntary Work and Charity for Older and Younger Adults in Finland

Antti Tanskanen, Mirkka Danielsbacka

• español

  Diversos estudios han mostrado que la participación en actividades de voluntariado y caritativas está asociada con un incremento del bienestar. Pocos han analizado esta relación utilizando datos a escala nacional de dos generaciones adultas. Utilizando las encuestas Generational Transmissions in Finland (2012), hemos examinado la relación entre la participación en actividades de voluntariado y caritativas, por una parte, y la felicidad y salud subjetiva, por otra, de las generaciones de personas mayores (nacidas entre 1945 y 1950) y adultas (nacidas entre 1962 y 1993). Las personas mayores involucradas en actividades de voluntariado eran más felices que las no involucradas, y las personas adultas que habían efectuado donaciones caritativas eran más felices que las que no lo habían hecho. No se han encontrado correlaciones entre la participación en actividades de voluntariado ni caritativas con la salud para ninguna de las dos generaciones estudiadas. Los resultados son discutidos considerando las etapas del curso vital en que se encuentran las personas mayores y adultas.

• English

  Happiness and health are commonly used well-being indicators, and studies have shown that engaging in voluntary work and charity is associated with increased well-being. However, few studies have analysed the association between volunteering or charity and well-being using nationally representative data from two adult generations. Utilising the Generational Transmissions in Finland surveys collected in 2012, we examined whether volunteering and charity were associated with self-perceived happiness and health in older (born 1945–1950) and younger (born 1962–1993) generations. We found that older adults who engaged in voluntary work were happier than those who did not. Further, younger adults who had made donations to charity were found to be happier than those who had not. With both older and younger generations, we found no correlations between volunteering or charity and self-perceived health. Results are discussed in the light of different life course phases older and younger generations are going through.