Abstract
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.
Highlights
¿Es Beneficiosa la Participación en Actividades de Voluntariado y Caritativas? Un Estudio con Personas Adultas Mayores y Jóvenes en Finlandia
In the previous section we have analysed whether volunteering and charity are associated with self-perceived health and happiness in Finland
We found that older adults who had engaged in voluntary activity were happier than those who had not
Summary
¿Es Beneficiosa la Participación en Actividades de Voluntariado y Caritativas? Un Estudio con Personas Adultas Mayores y Jóvenes en Finlandia. 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). In a previous study Abdel-Khalek (2006) showed that self-perceived happiness highly correlate with several other measures of life satisfaction and well-being. We analyse self-perceived health in particular, since studies have shown that it tends to correlate with health assessments made by physicians as well as morbidity and mortality (Anderson et al, 2014).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
