Caregiving and volunteering: are private and public helping behaviors linked?

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between two forms of helping behavior among older adults--informal caregiving and formal volunteer activity.

To evaluate our hypotheses, we employed Tobit regression models to analyze panel data from the first two waves of the Americans' Changing Lives survey.

We found that older adult caregivers were more likely to be volunteers than noncaregivers. Caregivers who provided a relatively high number of caregiving hours annually reported a greater number of volunteer hours than did noncaregivers. Caregivers who provided care to nonrelatives were more likely than noncaregivers to be a volunteer and to volunteer more hours. Finally, caregivers were more likely than noncaregivers to be asked to volunteer.

Our results provide support for the hypothesis that caregivers are embedded in networks that provide them with more opportunities for volunteering. Additional research on the motivations for volunteering and greater attention to the context and hierarchy of caregiving and volunteering are needed.