Volunteering
hours per week
Unpaid time given to others, usually through an organization such as a charity, a school or a congregation.
Surveys ask whether, how often and for how many hours a person volunteers. That is a habit with a calendar, not a feeling and not a network. Social capital on this atlas is network density, social support is the help a person receives, and loneliness is the felt gap. Volunteering is the giving of time.
Also called formal volunteering, volunteer work, voluntary work.
Connected relationships
Meta-analysis · Moderate
Volunteering→All-cause mortality
Higher volunteering decreases all-cause mortality.
Volunteers died at lower rates than non-volunteers. A meta-analysis of five cohort studies found a risk ratio of 0.78, and a review of adults aged 65 and over found a hazard ratio of 0.76.