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HELPING OTHERS IS A MIXED BLESSING: IMPLICATIONS FOR DAILY WELL-BEING

The literature documents mixed findings regarding how helping others influences individuals’ mental and physical health. We assessed various types of support that older adults offered (e.g., emotional, practical, advice) and examined how helping others was associated with older adults’ daily mood an...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Huo, Meng, Ng, Yee, Fingerman, Karen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6845085/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.875
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author Huo, Meng
Ng, Yee
Fingerman, Karen
author_facet Huo, Meng
Ng, Yee
Fingerman, Karen
author_sort Huo, Meng
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description The literature documents mixed findings regarding how helping others influences individuals’ mental and physical health. We assessed various types of support that older adults offered (e.g., emotional, practical, advice) and examined how helping others was associated with older adults’ daily mood and physical activity. This study utilized data from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study, where 293 participants aged 65+ reported on their helping behaviors and mood at the end of each day across 5 days. Participants also wore Actical accelerometers to track physical activity. Multilevel models revealed that older adults reported greater negative mood and less physical activity on days when they provided emotional support. Yet, giving advice was associated with increased positive mood that day. Moreover, older adults spent less time being sedentary on days when they offered practical help. This study offers insights into psychological and health consequences of helping others by examining older adults’ everyday lives.
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spelling pubmed-68450852019-11-18 HELPING OTHERS IS A MIXED BLESSING: IMPLICATIONS FOR DAILY WELL-BEING Huo, Meng Ng, Yee Fingerman, Karen Innov Aging Session 1250 (Symposium) The literature documents mixed findings regarding how helping others influences individuals’ mental and physical health. We assessed various types of support that older adults offered (e.g., emotional, practical, advice) and examined how helping others was associated with older adults’ daily mood and physical activity. This study utilized data from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study, where 293 participants aged 65+ reported on their helping behaviors and mood at the end of each day across 5 days. Participants also wore Actical accelerometers to track physical activity. Multilevel models revealed that older adults reported greater negative mood and less physical activity on days when they provided emotional support. Yet, giving advice was associated with increased positive mood that day. Moreover, older adults spent less time being sedentary on days when they offered practical help. This study offers insights into psychological and health consequences of helping others by examining older adults’ everyday lives. Oxford University Press 2019-11-08 /pmc/articles/PMC6845085/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.875 Text en © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Session 1250 (Symposium)
Huo, Meng
Ng, Yee
Fingerman, Karen
HELPING OTHERS IS A MIXED BLESSING: IMPLICATIONS FOR DAILY WELL-BEING
title HELPING OTHERS IS A MIXED BLESSING: IMPLICATIONS FOR DAILY WELL-BEING
title_full HELPING OTHERS IS A MIXED BLESSING: IMPLICATIONS FOR DAILY WELL-BEING
title_fullStr HELPING OTHERS IS A MIXED BLESSING: IMPLICATIONS FOR DAILY WELL-BEING
title_full_unstemmed HELPING OTHERS IS A MIXED BLESSING: IMPLICATIONS FOR DAILY WELL-BEING
title_short HELPING OTHERS IS A MIXED BLESSING: IMPLICATIONS FOR DAILY WELL-BEING
title_sort helping others is a mixed blessing: implications for daily well-being
topic Session 1250 (Symposium)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6845085/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.875
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