Volunteering and Subjective Well-Being in Later Adulthood: Is Self-Efficacy the Key?

study investigated age differences in longitudinal effects of volunteering on three facets of subjective well-being (SWB), i.e. positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and life satisfaction (LS). Both direct and indirect effects with self-efficacy as mediator were tested. Longitudinal structural equation modeling was used on 5,564 participants of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) aged 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, and 75-84 years. Volunteering was longitudinally directly related to PA and NA, but not to LS. The mediating role of self-efficacy differed between age groups: While volunteering affected self-efficacy only in the older age groups, self-efficacy affected SWB only in the younger age groups. Hence, indirect effects of volunteering on SWB with self-efficacy as mediator were found for the two age groups around retirement only (55-64, 65-74 years). Volunteering is beneficial for SWB not only directly, but also indirectly via self-efficacy. This mechanism is strongest for age groups around retirement.