title: Municipality and Neighborhood Influences on Volunteering in Later Life.
abstract: This article explores the relationships between municipality features and volunteering by older adults. In the literature, strong evidence exists of the influence of place on older people's health. However, the question how neighborhoods and municipalities promote or hinder volunteer participation remains under-explored. Data for the research are derived from the Belgian Aging Studies. We estimate logistic multilevel models for older individuals' engagement in volunteering across 141 municipalities in Belgium (N = 67,144). Analysis shows that neighborhood connectedness, neighborhood satisfaction, home ownership, and presence of services predict voluntary engagement at older ages. The findings support that perceptions and quality of social resources that relate to neighborhoods may be important factors to explain volunteering among older adults. Moreover, the findings suggest that volunteering in later life must be considered within a broader framework.
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium sdury@vub.ac.be.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dury
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jurgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Willems
authors.affiliation: University College Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: De Witte
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
authors.forename: Liesbeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Donder
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tine
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Buffel
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Verté
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001530:Belgium; D002947:Cities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D010465:Perception; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012931:Social Environment; D014838:Volunteers / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: multilevel analyses; neighborhood; potential volunteers; volunteering