Spending time helping others and well-being of givers: Age differences in immediate and long-term effects on...

The extant literature suggests that spending time helping others is associated with both beneficial and detrimental effects on givers' emotional experiences. To reconcile these findings, the current study examined the daily- and monthly-level associations between spending time helping others and well-being. We predicted that spending time helping others would be associated with lower hedonic well-being at the daily level but higher eudaimonic well-being at the monthly level. We further hypothesized that age would moderate these associations.

We used data from the main survey and the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE) in MIDUS 3 (N=865) and MIDUS Refresher 1 (N=612). Participants reported their daily and monthly time spent helping others. Measures included hedonic well-being (negative affect and positive affect) and eudaimonic well-being (social and psychological well-being).

At the daily level, our sample of adults experienced mixed emotional consequences on days when they spent more time helping others, reporting both higher negative and positive affect. Age moderation showed young and middle-aged adults experienced more negative affect. At the monthly level, spending time helping others was associated with higher social and psychological well-being. This association was significantly stronger among older adults than middle-aged adults in Refresher 1. Monthly spending time helping others was not associated with hedonic well-being.

These findings suggest that spending time helping others can be both taxing and enjoyable in the short term while contributing to eudaimonic benefits over the long term. Older age may reduce costs and enhance benefits of spending time helping others.