Familial and social generativity, well-being, and active engagement: these are the topics that we have investigated in the present work, with the goal of gaining a better understanding of active aging. Our findings allow us to confirm the literature that supports the idea that while it is true that participation in volunteer activity correlates with medium-high levels of well-being in older people (see, for example, Erikson - Erikson - Kivnick, 1986; Bosse - Aldwin - Levenson - Workman-Daniels - Ekerdt, 1990; Duncan - Whitney, 1990; Luoh - Herzog, 2002), it is also true that older people who are engaged in their family networks enjoy elevated well-being (see, in this connection, Minkler - Roe - Robertson-Beckley, 1994). In fact, the older people in the two groups of participants – volunteers and non-volunteers – show substantially the same good levels of well-being. These results go against the tendency in literature that supports the presence of higher levels of well-being in volunteers compared to their non-engaged peers.
Tamanza, G., Marta, E., Pozzi, M., Intergenerational relations and prosocial engagement in older people, in E. Scabini And G. Ross, E. S. A. G. R. (ed.), Living Longer: A Resource for the Family, An Opportunity for Society, Common Ground Research Networks, Champaign-Illinois 2018: 97- 120 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/127577]
Intergenerational relations and prosocial engagement in older people
Tamanza, Giancarlo;Marta, Elena;Pozzi, Maura
2018
Abstract
Familial and social generativity, well-being, and active engagement: these are the topics that we have investigated in the present work, with the goal of gaining a better understanding of active aging. Our findings allow us to confirm the literature that supports the idea that while it is true that participation in volunteer activity correlates with medium-high levels of well-being in older people (see, for example, Erikson - Erikson - Kivnick, 1986; Bosse - Aldwin - Levenson - Workman-Daniels - Ekerdt, 1990; Duncan - Whitney, 1990; Luoh - Herzog, 2002), it is also true that older people who are engaged in their family networks enjoy elevated well-being (see, in this connection, Minkler - Roe - Robertson-Beckley, 1994). In fact, the older people in the two groups of participants – volunteers and non-volunteers – show substantially the same good levels of well-being. These results go against the tendency in literature that supports the presence of higher levels of well-being in volunteers compared to their non-engaged peers.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.