Centre for Policy on Ageing



Fostering social ties through a volunteer role — implications for older adults' psychological health
Author(s)	Karen S Rook, Dara H Sorkin
Journal title	International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol 57, no 4, 2003
Pages	pp 313-338
Source	http://baywood.com
Keywords	Voluntary work [elderly] ; Foster grandparents ; Well being ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	The effects are examined of older adults' psychological health of participation in a volunteer role affording opportunities to form friendships with age-peers and to express nurturing towards another person. Access to these important social provisions was, in turn, expected to contribute to greater self-esteem, less loneliness and less depression. These hypotheses were tested by comparing older adults who served as foster grandparents to a developmentally disabled child (n=52) with older adults in two comparison groups (n= 69 and 59). Three assessments were conducted over a 2-year period. The analyses revealed that the foster grandparents exhibited a significant increase in the number of new ties formed, but participation in the Foster Grandparents Program was not associated with the expected gains in emotional health. Explanations for the limited findings and implications for future research are discussed. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-040629207 A
Classmark	GHH: GHP: D:F:5HH: 3J: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.