How Volunteering Relates to Happiness in College Students

VOLUNTEERINGAND SUBJECTIVEHAPPINESS
Abstract
In this study, researchers aimed to examine the relationship between volunteerism and
subjective happiness in college-aged individuals. It was hypothesized that the number of hours
spent volunteering would positively correlate with subjective happiness. The participants were a
sample of 18-23 year old college students attending Bryant University. A survey measuring
subjective happiness and hours spent volunteering was administered. The results were
r(50) = 0.152, p = 0.292, thus showing a positive relationship, but no significance at the alpha
level setting (α = 0.05). There were several limitations to this study, including sampling factors
and wording of the survey. Further research needs to be conducted with a focus on younger
generations, including college-aged individuals, to determine if this beneficial relationship does
in fact exist in those populations as well as older populations.

Relationship Between Volunteering and Subjective Happiness in College Students
The notion that recipients of strong social support and love experience health benefits due
to these factors is already widely accepted in the professional community. In fact, there is a
paradigm for approaching psychopathology that is based on this concept. The humanistic model
contends that receiving unconditional positive regard is an integral part of mental health. But
what of the individuals who provide that social support and love? What effects do their actions
have upon their own health?
Various studies have found that volunteer work enhances all six generally accepted
aspects of well-being. These features are happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, sense of
control over life, physical health, and depression (Thoits & Hewitt, 2001). People who serve as
volunteers tend to score higher on questions regarding global well-being, including areas of
contentment, peace, joy, purpose and community acceptance (McIlvaine et al., 2013).
Furthermore, volunteers tend to have better combined global well-being reports than those who
do not or cannot serve (McIlvaine et al., 2013). Volunteering is associated with higher levels of
life satisfaction and also has a positive impact on average emotional states (Theurer & Wister,
2010); (Byles et al., 2010). Individuals who volunteer regularly also report better overall
physical health than those who do not (Borgonovi, 2008); (Byles et al., 2010). Participation in
volunteer activities additionally helps to promote positive affect while simultaneously reducing
depressive symptomology as well as negative affect (Bhatta et al, 2013). Although volunteering
does seem to lower baseline levels of depression, it has not been shown to predict trajectories of
depression in most age groups (Kim & Pai, 2009). Outside of these six factors of well-being,

volunteering has further been associated with an increased quality of life as well as higher levels
of social support (Byles, et al., 2010).
Interestingly, it has been observed that the act of volunteering regularly lowers
depression levels more significantly for individuals aged 65+ years old than for any other age
group, though no age-related correlation has been found for most of the other aspect of well-
being in relation to the act of volunteering (Musick & Wilson, 2003). Furthermore, volunteering
seems to affect the decline of depression in individuals 65+, yet such an effect on depression
trajectories is not found to any extent in any other age group (Kim & Pai, 2009). Some degree of
this effect may be attributable to the social integration volunteering encourages, but the
mediating effect of such social resources appears small (Musick & Wilson, 2003). Although it
does not seem to affect most of the six aspects of well-being, with the exceptions of depression
and life satisfaction, volunteering in old age predicts other qualities of life including better self-
rated health, functioning, and physical activity (A Review of Benefits of Formal Voluntary Work
Among Older People, 2011). The risk of contracting chronic diseases and admission rates to
nursing homes in old age, however, remain unchanged by the individual’s level of volunteerism
(A Review of Benefits of Formal Voluntary Work Among Older People, 2011). Formal
volunteerism in this age group not only predicts decreased depression levels, but also lower
mortality rates (A Review of Benefits of Formal Voluntary Work Among Older People, 2011).
On the basis of global well-being, volunteerism does seem to have a reciprocal relationship with
well-being in older individuals as well (Morrow-Howell, 2010). Not only does volunteering in
old age increase well-being scores, but the effect continues positively in proportion to the

number of hours engaged in volunteer work (Hinterlong et al., 2003); (McIlvaine et al., 2013).
Religion also seems to play a role in moderating the effectiveness of volunteering, but again only
for the elderly. In this population, volunteering for religious causes appears to be more beneficial
to mental health than volunteering for secular causes (Musick & Wilson, 2003). Additionally, it
has been seen that these beneficial effects are only applicable for cases of formal volunteering,
not for informal helping (Ferraro & Li, 2005).
Several studies that have focused on the older population have looked at the relationship
between volunteerism and well-being through the lens of role theory. This theory essentially
says that individuals’ actions are typically aligned with the role or roles they occupy within
society (Haski-Lenventhal, 2009). Role enhancement is an important aspect of role theory,
meaning that the more roles one serves in helps to enhance power and social status, which
further translates to overall well-being (Haski-Leventhal, 2009). There is a limit to this idea
though. Role strain may occur if an individual takes on too many roles simultaneously, which
could actually lead to a decrease in well-being (Haski-Leventhal, 2009). Generally, it is thought
that since individuals tend to lose certain roles as they age, role strain is far less common for the
elderly (Haski-Leventhal, 2009). Thus the addition of the volunteer role(s) is more likely to have
mainly positive results for this generation (Haski-Leventhal, 2009). One study looking at this
relationship through this lens contends that volunteering is particularly beneficial to older people
because individuals in that population often experience the loss of other social roles (Theurer &
Wister, 2010). The reasoning used to support this claim is that volunteering provides
opportunities to increase well-being through role adoption, while simultaneously cultivating

generativity, the predominant issue facing this population according to Erik Erikson’s eight
stages of man (Theurer & Wister, 2010). As of yet, there has been no scientific support for this
theory, though. In fact, several have found age to not be a statistically significant factor,
including the Theurer & Wister experiment (2010). Other studies have proposed various other
explanations for the accentuated benefits of volunteering seen among the older generation. One
such possible explanation links the benefits to the increased vulnerability of the elderly
population. Individuals in this age group are particularly vulnerable to age-related illness, health
risks, and stressors such as role change and other significant life changes (Thomas, 1996).
Therefore, there is more room for improvement within these individuals and volunteering allows
for their well-being to be raised more than for younger individuals (Thomas, 1996).
Though research has been split as to whether age is an important factor in the effect
volunteering has on well-being, it has had consistent findings regarding the rates of volunteerism
in various populations. Volunteering behavior remains fairly consistent throughout the age
groups, with rates of volunteering not seeing any significant declines until the middle of the
seventh decade of life (Morrow-Howell, 2010). When older individuals do reduce or stop their
volunteering behavior, it is usually due to functional health problems presenting as a barrier
(Ferraro & Li, 2005). While volunteerism rates appear similar among the various generations,
older individuals who volunteer tend to commit more hours than their younger counterparts
(Morrow-Howell, 2010).
Volunteering has also been found to buffer the negative effects of stress on health,
depending upon certain personal characteristics. For example, for people ranked low in cynicism

and participating in low or nonexistent levels of volunteering, stress predicts mortality and for
those low in cynicism and volunteering at high levels, stress is not seen to have this effect. A
similar buffering effect has been seen for those high in world benevolence beliefs. For these
individuals, stress predicts elevated levels of distress at low and nonexistent levels of
volunteering, but not at high levels of volunteering (Poulin, 2014).
The aspect of well-being that has received the most research attention in the area of
volunteerism is happiness. Repeatedly studies have found that volunteering is strongly associated
with higher levels of happiness (Arminda, 2013); (Hicks, Krueger, & McGue, 2001); (Theurer
& Wister, 2010); (Dulin et al, 2012); (Borgonovi, 2008). Additionally, it has been observed that
more sustained volunteering is associated with increasingly better mental health (Musick &
Wilson, 2003). One study found that the odds of being happy increased for individuals who
volunteered 1-4 hours per month when compared to those who volunteered for less than 1 hour
per month or not at all (Theurer & Wister, 2010).
There have been many theories as to why volunteering may have this effect on happiness
levels. Borgonovi (2008) argued that the act of volunteering increases empathic emotions, shifts
aspirations, and moves “the salient reference group in subjective evaluations of relative positions
from the relatively better-off to the relatively worse-off”, so the volunteer becomes grateful for
what they have rather than jealous of what they do not have. Another theory proposed by Chui,
Kwok, & Wong (2013) contends that people satisfy an internal need when they participate in
volunteer activities and this is what motivates them to volunteer. It is also what causes them to

feel a general sense of life satisfaction when they participate in these activities (Chui, Kwok, &
Wong, 2013).
Several additional factors have been proposed as being moderators of the relationship
between volunteering and happiness or overall well-being. As was discussed earlier, personal
characteristics such as cynicism levels and world benevolence beliefs act as moderators in the
elderly population, but not in other generations (Poulin, 2014). A study of older adults looked at
social integration, race and gender as moderating factors in this relationship (Hinterlong et al.,
2003). The study found no statistically significant evidence to support any of these factors as
moderators of the relationship between volunteerism and well-being in older adults (Hinterlong
et al., 2003). They further discovered that the number of organizations the individual
volunteered for, the type of organization, and the perceived benefit of the work to others also had
no significant effect on the relationship (Hinterlong et al., 2003). Furthermore, no differential
benefits were seen according to the personal characteristics of the volunteer (Hinterlong et al.,
2003). Arminda (2013) suggested the existence of different motivations for participating in the
volunteer activity as an intervening variable for all populations, but results of that study did not
find any statistically significant relationship between various motivations and well-being.
Another study proposed two other factors as moderators: ethnicity and economic living standards
(Dulin et al, 2012). Although ethnicity was not found to be a statistically significant intervening
variable, the results suggested that the level of access to economic resources may moderate the
relationship between volunteering and happiness (Dulin et al, 2012). It was found that

individuals with low economic living standards had a stronger relationship between the two
measured variables than those with high economic living standards (Dulin et al, 2012).
Although much research has been focused specifically on the older population, no such
focus has yet been placed upon the younger generation. Thus, with the aim of discovering
whether there is any relationship between the act of volunteering and subjective happiness of
college students, the following research hypothesis was formulated:
The number of hours spent volunteering will positively correlate with subjective
happiness such that participants who report larger amounts of time spent volunteering
will also score high on the Subjective Happiness Scale.
This hypothesis was formed on the basis of prior research indicating a strong positive
relationship between volunteerism and well-being in other populations.
Methods
Participant Characteristics
The participants were a sample of students aged 18 to 23 from the student population at
Bryant University, with the mean age being 19.6 years old (standard deviation = 1.13). They
were recruited through word of mouth by peers and faculty of Bryant University. They received
no compensation directly from the study, but many received extra credit in certain college
courses.
The sample included 50 members of this community, 22 male (44%) and 28 female
(56%). Their ethnic background was overwhelmingly Caucasian, with 82% of participants

describing themselves as such. The remaining 18% of participants were dispersed amongst the
categories of Black/African American (8%), Asian/Asian American (6%), and Hispanic/Latino
(4%). Catholicism was the most prevalent religion within the sample at 50% of the participants.
The other half was spread among Protestantism (16%), Judaism (10%), Agnosticism (6%),
Atheism (4%) and other religious beliefs (14%).
Materials
Included in the materials needed for this study is a survey (Appendix A) that includes
demographic questions, the Subjective Happiness Scale, and a measure of time spent
volunteering. The Subjective Happiness Scale consists of four fairly broad statements regarding
individual’s perception of their own happiness level. This scale has been found to have great
internal consistency and stability over time and samples, as well as construct validity
(Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999). The scale has high correlation with other measures of
happiness and moderate levels of correlation with constructs theoretically and empirically related
to happiness as well as to well-being in general (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999). Displaying this
convergent validity, it had substantial correlations ranging from 0.52 to 0.72 (M=0.62).
Furthermore, it has good test-retest reliability with a range from 0.55 to 0.9 (M=0.72)
(Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999). Through using Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability test, Lyubormirsky
and Lepper (1999) found that the Subjective Happiness Scale demonstrated good to excellent
internal consistency with the alphas ranging from 0.79 to 0.94 (M=0.86). This data shows that it
is consistent across various ages, occupations, languages and cultures.

Also included is the SPSS statistical software needed to run a statistical analysis of the
data gathered in the survey.
Procedure
A survey that gathers data regarding participants’ demographics, time spent volunteering,
and subjective happiness was administered to the sample group of Bryant University students. A
statistical analysis was then performed using the data gathered in this survey to determine what
relationship exists, if any, between time spent volunteering and subjective happiness.
Results
The participants were recruited and participated in the study between March 16th, 2015
and March 24th, 2015. 50 individuals were recruited, and all 50 stayed to complete the study.
Additionally, all participants answered every survey question, thus there is no missing data.
Statistical analysis of the survey data was run through SPSS using a Pearson Correlation
with the alpha level set at 0.05. The results of the descriptive statistics are shown in Appendix B.
As can be seen in the table, the age range of participants was 18 to 23 years old, with an average
age of 19.6 years old and a standard deviation of 1.12 years. Volunteer times ranged from no
volunteering to 1,800 minutes. The mean time spent volunteering in the past month was 360.6
minutes, with a standard deviation of 410.47 minutes. The Subjective Happiness Scale scores
revealed a range from 12 to 27. The average score for Subjective Happiness was 21.42 with a
standard deviation of 3.28. The results of the inferential statistics are shown in Appendix C. It
was found that r(50) = 0.152, p = 0.292. Therefore, there was a positive correlation found

between the amount of time volunteering and the subjective happiness scores, but it is not
significant at this alpha level.
Discussion
The results of the Pearson Correlation do not support the original hypothesis of a positive
correlation between the number of hours spent volunteering and Subjective Happiness Scale
scores. Although the test revealed a positive correlation of 0.152, the p-value at an alpha level of
0.05 was 0.292, leaving the results far from significant. Due to this, no generalization to a larger
population can be made from these results.
The sample size is moderately small at only 50 participants. Furthermore, many of the
individuals were participating in order to receive extra credit in a college course and thus may
have wanted to complete the survey as quickly as possible. This may have led to minimal
attention being paid to the questions, and possible inaccuracy in the data gathered. Also, all the
data collected was self-reported, which lends itself to inaccuracy. This study’s sample was also
fairly homogeneous, with little diversity in the realms of ethnicity and religion. The vast majority
of the individuals were both white and Catholic. Every participant was a student at Bryant
University, a school which primarily recruits from the New England Region of the United states
and tends to enroll students of a higher socioeconomic status. All of these factors may have
created a bias in the results.
Another limitation to the study was also the time of year it was conducted. The measure
of volunteer time on the survey asked participants “In the past month, how much time have you

spent volunteering?” Because the study was conducted in March, during the academic year,
students may have been less involved in volunteer activities than they are typically. If this study
is repeated, it is suggested that the wording be changed to “In the average month, how much time
do you spend volunteering?” in order to eliminate any affects the time of year may have on the
results.
Although the study does have limitations, it is possible that the results are accurate in
refuting a relationship between subjective happiness and volunteer time in college students. Most
research in this area has addressed aging or elderly populations, thus the empirical findings that
support such a positive relationship may be limited to those populations. Further research must
be done with a focus on younger generations, including college-aged individuals, to determine if
this beneficial relationship does in fact exist in those populations as well.

References
A review of benefits of formal voluntary work among older people. (2011). Aging Clinical and
Experimental Research Journal, 23(3), 162-169.
Arminda do Paço Ana Cláudia Nave, (2013), "Corporate volunteering ", Employee Relations, 35
(5), 547 – 559.
Bhatta, T.; Kahana, B.; Kahana, E.; Lovegreen, L. D.; & Midlarsky, E. (2013). “Altruism,
helping, and volunteering: Pathways to well-being in late life”. Journal of Aging and
Health, 25 (1), 159-187.
Borgonovi, F. (2008). “Doing well by doing good: The relationship between formal volunteering
and self-reported health and happiness”. Social Science & Medicine, 66 (11), 2321-2334.
Byles, J., Parkinson, L., Sibbrett, D., & Warburton, J., (2010). Volunteering and Older Women:
Psychosocial and Health Predictors of Participation. Aging and Mental Health, 14(8),
917-927. Retrieved from Taylor Francis Onlne.
Chui, W.; Kwok, Y.; & Wong, L. (2013). “Need satisfaction mechanism linking volunteer
motivation and life satisfaction: A mediation study of volunteers subjective well-being”.
Social Indicators Research, 114 (3), 1315-1329.
Dulin, P. L., Gavala, J., Kostick, M., McDonald, J., & Stephens, C., (2012). “Volunteering
predicts happiness among older Mãori and non-Mãori in the New Zealand health, work,
and retirement longitudinal study”. Aging & Mental Health, 16 (5), 617-624.

Ferraro, K., & Li, Y., (2005). Volunteering and Depression in Later Life: Social Benefit or
Selection Processes? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46, 68-84. Retrieved from
Sage Journals.
Haski-Leventhal, D. (2009, October 23). Elderly Volunteering and Well-Being: A Cross-
European Comparison Based on SHARE Data.
Hicks, B. M.; Krueger, R. F.; & McGue, M. (2001). “Altruism and Antisocial Behavior:
Independent tendencies, unique personality correlates, distinct etiologies”. Psychological
Science, 12 (5), 397.
Hinterlong, J., Morrow-Howell, N., Rozario, P., & Tang, F. (2003). Effects of Volunteering on
the Well-being of Older Adults. Journals of Gerontology, 58(3), 137-145. Retrieved from
Oxford Journals.
Kim, J., & Pai, M. (2009). Volunteering and Trajectories of Depression. Journal of Aging and
Health, 22(1), 84-105. Retrieved from Sage Journals.
Lyubomirsky, S., & Lepper, H. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary
reliability and construct validation. Social Indicators Research, 46, 137-155.
McIlvaine, R., Nelson, L., Stewart, J., & Stewart, W. (2013). Association of Strength of
Community Service to Personal Wellbeing. Community Mental Health Journal, 50(5),
577-582. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10597-013-9660-0
Morrow-Howell, N. (2010). Volunteering in Later Life: Research Frontiers. Journals of
Gerontology, 65B(4), 461-469. Retrieved from Oxford Journals.

Musick, M. and Wilson, J. (2003), “Volunteering and depression: the role of psychological and
social resources in different age groups”, Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 56 No. 2, pp.
259-269.
Post, S. G. (2005). Altruism, Happiness, and Health: It’s Good to Be Good. International
Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12(2), 66-77.
Poulin, M. J. (2014). Volunteering predicts health among those who value others. Two
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Appendix A – Survey
Effect of Volunteerism on Subjective Happiness in College Students
1. What is your sex?
a. Male
b. Female
2. How do you describe yourself?
a. American Indian or Alaska Native
b. Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
c. Asian or Asian American
d. Black or African American

e. Hispanic or Latino
f. White/Caucasian
g. Other (please specify)
3. What is your religious preference
a. Atheist
b. Agnostic
c. Jewish
d. Catholic
e. Muslim
f. Protestant
g. Other (please specify)
4. How old are you?
___________
5. In the past month, how much time have you spent volunteering (in hours)?
6. In general, I consider myself:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Not a very A very
happy person happy person
7. Compared with most of my peers, I consider myself:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Less happy More happy
8. Some people are generally very happy. They enjoy life regardless of what is going on,
getting the most out of everything. To what extent does this characterization describe
you?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Not at all A great deal
9. Some people are generally not very happy. Although they are not depressed, they never
seem as happy as they might be. To what extent does this characterization describe you?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A great deal Not at all

Appendix B – Descriptive Statistics Results
N Minimum Maximum Mean Standard
Deviation
Age (years) 50 18.00 23.00 19.60 1.12
Volunteer
Time
(minutes)
50 0.00 1800.00 360.60 410.47
Subjective
Happiness
Score
50 12.00 27.00 21.42 3.28
Valid N
(listwise)
50
Appendix C – Inferential Statistics Results
VolTime SH Score
VolTime Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
1
50
0.152
0.292
50
SH Score Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
0.152
0.292
50
1
50

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