title: Is volunteering in later life impeded or stimulated by other activities?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Volunteering among older adults has received increasing attention from researchers, policy makers, and associations. However, there remains a lack of knowledge in how volunteering is impacted by other activities in the lives of older adults. In order to understand activity engagement in later life, insights into the extent to which activities compete with or complement each other are necessary.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for the present research were derived from the Belgian Aging Studies (N = 23,768). The main objective is to uncover the activities that impede or stimulate actual volunteering and/or the likeliness to volunteer at an older age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Structural equation models indicate a strong positive correlation between altruistic types of activities and actual volunteering. Furthermore, older adults active in personal leisure activities are more drawn to be potential volunteers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The article demonstrates that the activity level of older people is not sufficient to understand volunteering, that is, a distinction between the types of activities is essential.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Adult Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium sdury@vub.ac.be.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dury
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Adult Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Liesbeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Donder
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Care, University College Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: De Witte
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Adult Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dorien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brosens
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Adult Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: An-Sofie
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Smetcoren
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Adult Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Van Regenmortel
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Adult Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Verté
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001530:Belgium; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D014838:Volunteers
keywords: activity engagement; multiple activities; structural equation modeling; volunteering