The association of human, social, and cultural capital with prevalent volunteering profiles in late midlife

Cheng, Grand H.-L.; Chan, Angelique; Østbye, Truls; Malhotra, Rahul

doi:10.1007/s10433-021-00605-x

Original Investigation
Published: 25 January 2021

The association of human, social, and cultural capital with prevalent volunteering profiles in late midlife

Grand H.-L. Cheng ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5783-9534¹,
Angelique Chan²,
Truls Østbye³ &
Rahul Malhotra²

European Journal of Ageing volume 19, pages 95–105 (2022)Cite this article

391 Accesses
Metrics details

Abstract

Volunteering can be critical to late middle-aged adults’ well-being. Hence, it is essential to understand the antecedents of volunteering in this age group. The present study of Singaporeans aged 50 to 59 (N = 1620) considered 18 volunteering acts and used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify volunteering profiles. The relationships between human, social, and cultural capital and the derived profiles were then examined with reference to resource theory. We observed three prevalent volunteering profiles: low (having a low tendency to engage in any volunteering acts), informal instrumental (primarily offering instrumental help in informal settings), and diverse (exhibiting instrumental and relational acts in formal and informal settings). Using low volunteering as the reference group, we found that informal instrumental volunteering was only predicted by the strength of social networks (social capital). In contrast, diverse volunteering was predicted by several factors including education level, work status, depressive symptoms (human capital), household size, the strength of social networks, attendance at community events (social capital), and religious affiliation (cultural capital). The LCA-derived volunteering profiles reveal population heterogeneity in terms of volunteering acts. The observed relationships between capital and volunteering profiles have implications for policies promoting volunteering in Singapore.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

Alvarez RM, Levin I, Núñez L (2017) The four faces of political participation in Argentina: using latent class analysis to study political behavior. J Polit 79:1386–1402. https://doi.org/10.1086/692786
Article Google Scholar
Amano T, Park S, Morrow-Howell N (2018) The association between cognitive impairment and patterns of activity engagement among older adults. Res Aging 40:645–667. https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027517728553
Article Google Scholar
Anderson ND et al (2014) The benefits associated with volunteering among seniors: A critical review and recommendations for future research. Psychol Bull 140:1505–1533. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037610
Article Google Scholar
Berlin KS, Williams NA, Parra GR (2014) An introduction to latent variable mixture modeling (Part 1): Overview and cross-sectional latent class and latent profile analyses. J Pediatr Psychol 39:174–187. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jst084
Article Google Scholar
Boggs DL (1992) Civic learning and action among older citizens. Int Rev Educ 38:393–402. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01102325
Article Google Scholar
Butrica BA, Johnson RW, Zedlewski SR (2009) Volunteer dynamics of older Americans. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 64B:644–655. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbn042
Article Google Scholar
Chan A, Malhotra C, Malhotra R, Ostbye T (2011) Living arrangements, social networks and depressive symptoms among older men and women in Singapore. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 26:630–639. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.2574
Article Google Scholar
Cheng GH-L, Ang S, Chan A (2019) Patterns of family support exchange and personal mastery in later life: A longitudinal study Aging Ment Health:advance online publication
Cho E, Koh C-W (2015) Governmental interventions and social re-engineering to facilitate work-life balance: Singapore and South Korea. In: Lu L, Cooper CL (eds) Handbook of research on work-life balance in Asia. Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, MA, pp 271–294
Chapter Google Scholar
Choi NG, Burr JA, Mutchler JE, Caro FG (2007) Formal and informal volunteer activity and spousal caregiving among older adults. Res Aging 29:99–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027506296759
Article Google Scholar
Collins LM, Lanza ST (2010) Latent class and latent transition analysis: With applications in the social behavioral, and health sciences. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Google Scholar
Cramm JM, Nieboer AP (2015) Background characteristics, resources and volunteering among older adults (aged >70 years) in the community: A longitudinal study. Geriatr Gerontol Int 15:1087–1095. https://doi.org/10.1111/ggi.12404
Article Google Scholar
Forbes KF, Zampelli EM (2014) Volunteerism: The influences of social, religious, and human capital. Nonprofit Volunt Sect Q 43:227–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764012458542
Article Google Scholar
Grinshteyn EG, Sugar JA (2020) Perceived neighbourhood safety and volunteerism among older adults Aging Soc: Adv Online Publicationhttps://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X20000677
Hank K, Erlinghagen M (2010) Dynamics of volunteering in older. Eur Gerontol 50:170–178. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnp122
Article Google Scholar
Jaccard J, Jacoby J (2010) Theory construction and model-building skills: A practical guide for social scientists. Guilford Press, New York, NY
Google Scholar
Jongenelis MI, Dana LM, Warburton J, Jackson B, Newton RU, Talati Z, Pettigrew S (2020) Factors associated with formal volunteering among retirees. Eur J Ageing 17:229–239. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-019-00539-5
Article Google Scholar
Kim ES, Konrath SH (2016) Volunteering is prospectively associated with health care use among older adults. Soc Sci Med 149:122–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015
Article Google Scholar
Kim J, Kang J-h, Lee M-A, Lee Y (2007) Volunteering among older people in Korea. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 62B:S69–S73. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/62.1.S69
Article Google Scholar
Kohout FJ, Berkman LF, Evans DA, Cornoni-Huntley J (1993) Two shorter forms of the CES-D depression symptoms index. J Aging Health 5:179–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/089826439300500202
Article Google Scholar
Kritz M, Ntoumanis N, Mullan B, Stathi A, Thøgersen-Ntoumani C (2020) Volunteer motivation and retention of older peer walk leaders: A 4-month long investigation Gerontologist:Advance online publication
Lachman ME (2004) Development in midlife. Annu Rev Psychol 55:305–331. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141521
Article Google Scholar
Lee Y-j, Brudney JL (2012) Participation in formal and informal volunteering: Implications for volunteer recruitment. Nonprofit Manag Leadersh. 23:159–180. https://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21060
Article Google Scholar
Lubben J, Gironda M (2004) Measuring social networks and assessing their benefits. In: Phillipson C, Allan G, Morgan D (eds) Social networks and social exclusion: Sociological and policy perspectives. Ashgate, Burlington, VT, pp 20–34
Google Scholar
Malhotra R et al (2019) The aging of a young nation: Population aging in Singapore. Gerontologist 59:401–410. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gny160
Article Google Scholar
McNamara TK, Gonzales E (2011) Volunteer transitions among older adults: the role of human, social, and cultural capital in later life. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 66:490–501. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbr055
Article Google Scholar
Mejía ST, Settersten RA Jr, Odden MC, Hooker K (2015) Responses to financial loss during the Great Recession: An examination of sense of control in late midlife. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 71:734–744. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbv054
Article Google Scholar
Mergenthaler A, Sackreuther I, Staudinger UM (2019) Productive activity patterns among 60–70-year-old retirees in Germany. Aging Soc 39:1122–1151. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X17001404
Article Google Scholar
Mirowsky J, Ross CE (1992) Age and depression. J Health Soc Behav 33:187–205. https://doi.org/10.2307/2137349
Article Google Scholar
Morrow-Howell N, Putnam M, Lee YS, Greenfield JC, Inoue M, Chen H (2014) An investigation of activity profiles of older adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 69:809–821. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbu002
Article Google Scholar
Mutchler JE, Burr JA, Caro FG (2003) From paid worker to volunteer: Leaving the paid workforce and volunteering in later life. Soc Forces 81:1267–1293. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2003.0067
Article Google Scholar
Nguyen AW (2017) Variations in social network type membership among older African Americans Caribbean blacks, and non-Hispanic whites. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 72:716–726. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbx016
Article Google Scholar
Okun MA, Rios R, Crawford AV, Levy R (2011) Does the relation between volunteering and well-being vary with health and age? Int J Aging Hum Dev 72:265–287. https://doi.org/10.2190/AG.72.3.f
Article Google Scholar
Principi A et al (2016) Do predictors of volunteering in older age differ by health status? Eur J Ageing 13:91–102. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-016-0377-0
Article Google Scholar
Putnam RD (2000) The collapse and revival of American community. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY
Google Scholar
Roberts JE, Gotlib IH, Kassel JD (1996) Adult attachment security and symptoms of depression: The mediating roles of dysfunctional attitudes and low self-esteem. J Pers Soc Psychol 70:310–320. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.2.310
Article Google Scholar
Russell AR, Nyame-Mensah A, de Wit A, Handy F (2019) Volunteering and wellbeing among ageing adults: A longitudinal analysis. VOLUNTAS 30:115–128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-018-0041-8
Article Google Scholar
Singapore Ministerial Committee on Ageing (2016) I feel young in my Singapore! Action plan for successful ageing, Singapore Ministry of Health, Singapore
Google Scholar
Steptoe A, Breeze E, Banks J, Nazroo J (2013) Cohort profile: the english longitudinal study of ageing. Int J Epidemiol 42:1640–1648. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dys168
Article Google Scholar
Voydanoff P (2005) Work demands and work-to-family and family-to-work conflict: Direct and indirect relationships J Fam. Issues 26:707–726. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513x05277516
Article Google Scholar
Wickrama KAS, Lee TK, O’Neal CW, Lorenz FO (2016) Higher-order growth curves and mixture modeling with Mplus. Routledge, New York, NY
Book Google Scholar
Wilson J (2000) Volunteering. Annu Rev Sociol 26:215–240. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.215
Article Google Scholar
Wilson J, Musick M (1997) Who cares? Toward an integrated theory of volunteer work. Am Sociol Rev 62:694–713. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657355
Article Google Scholar
Wu Z, Zhao R, Zhang X, Liu F (2018) The impact of social capital on volunteering and giving: Evidence from urban China. Nonprofit Volunt Sect Q 47:1201–1222. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764018784761
Article Google Scholar
Yeung JWK (2018) Are religious people really more helpful? Public and private religiosity and volunteering participation. Nonprofit Volunt Sect Q 47:1178–1200. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764018783277
Article Google Scholar

Download references

Funding

Panel on Ageing and Transitions in Health Survey (PATHS) was funded by Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council under its Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award “Establishing a Practical and Theoretical Foundation for Comprehensive and Integrated Community, Policy and Academic Efforts to Improve Dementia Care in Singapore” (NMRC-STAR-0005–2009).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

School of Arts and Social Sciences; Public and Social Policy Research Centre, The Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Grand H.-L. Cheng
Programme in Health Services and Systems Research; Centre for Ageing Research and Education, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore
Angelique Chan & Rahul Malhotra
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Truls Østbye

Authors

Grand H.-L. Cheng
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Angelique Chan
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Truls Østbye
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Rahul Malhotra
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Grand H.-L. Cheng.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Morten Wahrendorf

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

See Fig. 2

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cheng, G.HL., Chan, A., Østbye, T. et al. The association of human, social, and cultural capital with prevalent volunteering profiles in late midlife. Eur J Ageing 19, 95–105 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-021-00605-x

Download citation

Accepted: 11 January 2021
Published: 25 January 2021
Issue Date: March 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-021-00605-x

Keywords

Volunteering
Latent class analysis
Resource theory
Late midlife
Singapore

Abstract

Access options

Buy single article

References

Funding

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Corresponding author

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Appendix

Appendix

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Share this article

Keywords