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Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom

Previous research suggests that volunteering can mitigate the negative mental health impacts of unemployment but has yielded mixed results. This study extends the previous literature by examining whether volunteering can buffer the negative impacts of both unemployment and economic inactivity on men...

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Autores principales: Wang, Senhu, Ling, Wanying, Lu, Zhuofei, Wei, Yuewei, Li, Min, Gao, Ling
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35682391
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116809
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author Wang, Senhu
Ling, Wanying
Lu, Zhuofei
Wei, Yuewei
Li, Min
Gao, Ling
author_facet Wang, Senhu
Ling, Wanying
Lu, Zhuofei
Wei, Yuewei
Li, Min
Gao, Ling
author_sort Wang, Senhu
collection PubMed
description Previous research suggests that volunteering can mitigate the negative mental health impacts of unemployment but has yielded mixed results. This study extends the previous literature by examining whether volunteering can buffer the negative impacts of both unemployment and economic inactivity on mental health. Using nationally representative panel data from the United Kingdom Longitudinal Household Study (2010–2020) and fixed effects models, this study yields three important findings: First, volunteering cannot mitigate the adverse effects of unemployment, regardless of gender. Second, frequent volunteering (at least once per month) can benefit the mental health of economically inactive groups (e.g., family care and long-term sickness). Third, the study reveals the gendered patterns of the impacts of volunteering. Specifically, frequent volunteering can buffer the negative impacts of family care or long-term sickness for men, and the negative impacts of unpaid work for women. Overall, these findings contribute towards a more nuanced understanding of the buffering role of volunteering and its gendered patterns. Policymakers should offer more volunteering opportunities and training to these economically inactive groups to reduce their risk of mental issues.
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spelling pubmed-91801872022-06-10 Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom Wang, Senhu Ling, Wanying Lu, Zhuofei Wei, Yuewei Li, Min Gao, Ling Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Previous research suggests that volunteering can mitigate the negative mental health impacts of unemployment but has yielded mixed results. This study extends the previous literature by examining whether volunteering can buffer the negative impacts of both unemployment and economic inactivity on mental health. Using nationally representative panel data from the United Kingdom Longitudinal Household Study (2010–2020) and fixed effects models, this study yields three important findings: First, volunteering cannot mitigate the adverse effects of unemployment, regardless of gender. Second, frequent volunteering (at least once per month) can benefit the mental health of economically inactive groups (e.g., family care and long-term sickness). Third, the study reveals the gendered patterns of the impacts of volunteering. Specifically, frequent volunteering can buffer the negative impacts of family care or long-term sickness for men, and the negative impacts of unpaid work for women. Overall, these findings contribute towards a more nuanced understanding of the buffering role of volunteering and its gendered patterns. Policymakers should offer more volunteering opportunities and training to these economically inactive groups to reduce their risk of mental issues. MDPI 2022-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9180187/ /pubmed/35682391 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116809 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wang, Senhu
Ling, Wanying
Lu, Zhuofei
Wei, Yuewei
Li, Min
Gao, Ling
Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom
title Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom
title_full Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom
title_fullStr Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom
title_full_unstemmed Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom
title_short Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom
title_sort can volunteering buffer the negative impacts of unemployment and economic inactivity on mental health? longitudinal evidence from the united kingdom
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35682391
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116809
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