Assessing the religious roots of volunteer work in middle and late life

Research reveals that older people do a significant amount of volunteer work. Moreover, a good deal of this volunteering takes place in religious institutions. The purpose of this study is to examine how social factors in the church influence the decision to volunteer. The analyses are conducted in two steps. First, data from a longitudinal nationwide survey of older people are used to show that increases in spiritual support (i.e., assistance from fellow church members that is designed to bolster religious beliefs and behaviors) are associated with increases in the frequency of volunteer work. Second, cross-sectional analyses from the same survey suggest that spiritual support is associated with volunteering in part because it promotes greater compassion. However, the magnitude of the relationship between compassion and volunteering is fairly modest.