Volunteering Twp Hours Per Week Reduces Loneliness in Widowed Older Adults

A study published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences found volunteering for about two hours a week can help relieve older adults of loneliness resulting from the death of a spouse, reports ScienceDaily . The researchers analyzed data from 5,882 married adults, ages 51 and older, who completed the Health and Retirement Study administered every two years. The data covered 2006 through 2014 for individuals who were married and either remained continuously married or became widowed. The researchers determined loneliness was much higher in those who become widowed compared to those who stay continuously married. However, beginning to volunteer two or more hours a week led to decreased loneliness, with levels of loneliness similar to those of continuously married individuals volunteering at the same frequency. The findings suggest higher intensity volunteering as a potential intervention for alleviating loneliness in older adults who have recently become widowed. "Volunteering only matters for people's loneliness when they've experienced the loss of social integration that results from widowhood," says Georgia State University Professor Ben Lennox Kail. "It also suggests something that I think is particularly interesting. When you experience loneliness that is because of some kind of loss, even if you're robustly integrated, that loss is meaningful to you. So if you have this robust social network, and you then experience some loss, what you need to do is begin something new. It's the new social integration that can make up for loss."