Race, gender, and the relevance of productive activity for elders' affect

The influences of both paid and unpaid productive activity outside the home on positive and negative affect among White and Black males and females were examined in this study. Data are from a weighted subsample of those 60 and over from Wave 1 (1986) of the Americans' Changing Lives Panel Study. Multivariate analyses confirm the basic thesis that race and gender are critical social contexts when considering the relationship between productive activity and positive and negative affect. Major findings are: (a) paid work has no direct influence on either positive or negative affect for any of the four race/gender subgroups; (b) formal religious participation decreases the negative affect of older Black women; (c) formal nonreligious participation increases the positive affect of White men and decreases the negative affect of Black men; (d) informal volunteering increases positive affect and decreases negative affect among older Black men and White women. Discussion focuses on the importance of role distinctions by race in explaining the various productive activity/affect associations.