Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom

Senhu Wang, Wanying Ling, Zhuofei Lu, Yuewei Wei, Min Li and Ling Gao
Additional contact information
Senhu Wang: Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, 11 Arts Link, #03-06 AS1, Singapore 117573, Singapore
Wanying Ling: School of Sociology and Population Studies, Renmin University of China, No. 59 Zhongguancun Street, Beijing 100872, China
Zhuofei Lu: Department of Social Statistics, University of Manchester, HBS Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Yuewei Wei: Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, Cambridge CB2 1SB, UK
Min Li: Independent Scholar, Guangli Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510620, China
Ling Gao: School of Economics, Xiamen University, Siming South Road #422, Xiamen 361005, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: Previous research suggests that volunteering can mitigate the negative mental health impacts of unemployment but has yielded mixed results. This study extends the previous literature by examining whether volunteering can buffer the negative impacts of both unemployment and economic inactivity on mental health. Using nationally representative panel data from the United Kingdom Longitudinal Household Study (2010–2020) and fixed effects models, this study yields three important findings: First, volunteering cannot mitigate the adverse effects of unemployment, regardless of gender. Second, frequent volunteering (at least once per month) can benefit the mental health of economically inactive groups (e.g., family care and long-term sickness). Third, the study reveals the gendered patterns of the impacts of volunteering. Specifically, frequent volunteering can buffer the negative impacts of family care or long-term sickness for men, and the negative impacts of unpaid work for women. Overall, these findings contribute towards a more nuanced understanding of the buffering role of volunteering and its gendered patterns. Policymakers should offer more volunteering opportunities and training to these economically inactive groups to reduce their risk of mental issues.

Keywords: volunteering; employment; gender; economically inactive groups; mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6809/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6809/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6809-:d:830437

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().