People who give, live longer, studies have shown. Now, a new study shows that why people volunteer — not whether they volunteer — is what really counts.
People who volunteer because they want to help others, live longer than people who don’t volunteer at all, U-M researchers found. But those who volunteer mainly for some sort of personal benefit live no longer than nonvolunteers, on average.
“We’ve known for a long time that volunteering can have benefits not just to the people receiving help but also to those who give their time and energy,” says Sara Konrath, the lead author of the study and a social psychologist at the Institute for Social Research (ISR).
“On the surface, volunteering seems to be a purely selfless act. But, in fact, people volunteer for a wide range of reasons, from getting out of the house and meeting new people to doing something good for people who need help and groups they support.”
For the study, published online by the American Psychological Association in the peer-reviewed journal Health Psychology, Konrath and colleagues Andrea Fuhrel-Forbis, Alina Lou and Stephanie Brown found that those who rated motives related to personal benefit as more important were marginally more likely to have died after four years. In fact, those who volunteered for personal benefits were just as likely to die as those who didn’t volunteer at all, the researchers found. These reasons included volunteering because they enjoyed the social contact, to get out of the house, to escape their own problems, or to explore their own strengths.
“Our analysis clearly demonstrates the importance of motives when considering the health benefits of volunteering,” Konrath says.
The researchers plan to conduct future research to examine this idea in relation to volunteering but in the meantime, Konrath says the current finding suggests it may be a poor idea to encourage people to volunteer because it’s good for them.
“Volunteering is increasingly being encouraged in schools and organizations via the media — including Oprah Winfrey’s ‘Angel Network’ and even by President Obama,” she says. “Some groups emphasize that it’s OK to want some benefits for yourself, and encourage people to think of volunteering as an exchange rather than something you do for other people who aren’t as fortunate as you are. Some groups even emphasize the health benefits received through volunteering.
Konrath also is affiliated with the University of Rochester Medical Center, Fuhrel-Forbis is affiliated with the U-M Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, Lou is affiliated with ISR, and Brown, who conducted the research establishing that people who give, live longer, while she was at ISR, now is affiliated with the Stony Brook University Medical Center.
