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Invisible Civic Engagement among Older Adults: Valuing the Contributions of Informal Volunteering

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Abstract

There is a growing call for civic engagement, largely in the form of formal volunteering, among older adults in America. This call is a response to the aging of the baby boom population, believed to be the healthiest and wealthiest cohort of older adults to date. It also coincides with the devolution of welfare programs. We argue that current discussions of civic engagement are too narrow and may exclude important informal contributions that older adults make to civic society, and put undue stress on, and devalue those who may not contribute to society due to poor health, poverty or other barriers. We draw on data collected from older adults of lower socio-economic status and diverse ethnic backgrounds in Baltimore City using focus groups to explore their definitions of volunteering and barriers which they face. Through a discussion of existing barriers and motivators for engagement, we critically assess the use of these terms and advance discussions on how to facilitate and value contributions of all older adults. We conclude that civic engagement includes more than formal volunteering and that significant barriers need to be removed to facilitate greater participation of all elders in both formal and informal activities.

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Acknowledgements

The project was funded by a grant from the Macarthur Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health. Special thanks to Drs. Linda Fried and Teresa Seeman for making it possible. We’d also like to acknowledge Baltimore City’s Commission on Aging and Retirement Education’s (CARE), in particular Ms. Lisa Veale, and the staff of the local senior centers and housing facilities which provided assistance with recruiting and space to conduct the interviews.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Green Family Foundation Division of Medicine & Society Department of Humanities, Health & Society, Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC-II 462, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Iveris L. Martinez

  2. Miami, FL, USA

    Donneth Crooks

  3. Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Kristen S. Kim

  4. School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Elizabeth Tanner

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  1. Iveris L. Martinez
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  2. Donneth Crooks
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Correspondence to Iveris L. Martinez.

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Martinez, I.L., Crooks, D., Kim, K.S. et al. Invisible Civic Engagement among Older Adults: Valuing the Contributions of Informal Volunteering. J Cross Cult Gerontol 26, 23–37 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-011-9137-y

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