Friendship in Later Life: A Pathway Between Volunteering Hours and Depressive Symptoms

Emily Lim, Changmin Peng, Jeffrey A Burr and Zhen Cong

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2023, vol. 78, issue 4, 673-683

Abstract: ObjectivesFriendships are essential in the face of social network changes in later life and friendships may be important for reducing depression risk. Social participation through volunteering is also associated with fewer depressive symptoms. What is less well-understood is whether friendships serve as a pathway in the link between volunteering and depression.MethodsWe used panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (2010, 2014, 2018). Negative binomial regression within the SEM modeling framework was employed to analyze the association between volunteering and friendship, focusing on the indirect effect of friendships for understanding the volunteering and depressive symptoms relationship.ResultsVolunteer hours were positively associated with friendship (1–99 hr: β = 0.17, p

Keywords: Emotional health; Mental health; Pro-social behaviors; Social engagement; Social relationships (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

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