Volunteering Predicts Health Among Those Who Value Others
The Gist:
- Consistent with prior research on helping behavior, these studies indicate that helping behavior can buffer the effects of stress on health.
- However, the results of these studies indicate that stress-buffering effects of volunteering are limited to individuals with positive views of other people.
- Not all individuals may benefit from volunteering, and health-promotion efforts seeking to draw on health benefits of helping behavior may need to target their approach accordingly.
(Poulin, 2013). Health Psychology.
