We combined Waves 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 where volunteering engagement was measured. We extracted a sample of adults living in England and examined how changes in their engagement were associated with the changes in mental distress (GHQ12) and health-related quality of life (SF12) (N=10,989). Participants were stratified by their birth cohort: Pre-1945 (born before 1945), Baby Boomers (born in 1945-1964), Gen X (born in 1965-1979) and the Millennials (born in 1980 or after), and by their place of residence measured by levels of area deprivation.
To identify volunteers, we measured their frequency in australia rcs data voluntary work using the following two survey questions:
In the last 12 months, have you given any unpaid help or worked as a volunteer for any type of local, national or international organisation or charity?
Including any time spent at home or elsewhere, about how often over the last 12 months have you generally done something to help any of these organisations?
We found that 21% of our sample had volunteered, with a greater prevalence of volunteering among older cohorts. Younger cohorts reported greater levels of mental distress but better health-related quality of life. Volunteers generally experienced lower levels of mental distress and greater levels of health-related quality of life than non-volunteers. These differences were more prominent for the older population (see Figures 1 & 2). Such differences were also more defined in more deprived neighbourhoods, especially for quality of life. Levels of mental distress and health-related quality of life were worse in more deprived areas for both volunteers and non-volunteers.