赠人玫瑰,手有余香——志愿服务的幸福效应

Roses Given,Fragrance in Hand——Happiness Effect of Voluntary Services

面对老年心理疾病的高发风险,如何提高老年人幸福感,社会支持理论认为让老年人参与社会活动,能够提升其社会参与水平和互动水平,进而提升其幸福感。那么老年人参与志愿服务能否增加其幸福感呢?本文基于2013年的CHARLS数据,以60岁及以上老年人为研究对象,考察了老年人参与志愿服务对其幸福感的影响作用和影响机制。实证研究发现,中国老年人参与志愿服务能显著提升幸福感水平,尤其对于女性、非党员以及经济状况良好的老年人,参与志愿服务增进幸福感主要通过提升积极情绪加以实现。本文的研究结论也可为保障老年人福利、构建互助的老年人社会参与体系提供经验证据。

In the face of the high prevalence of depression in old age,what should we do to improve the well-being of older people?Social support theory suggests that involving older people in social activities can enhance their level of social participation and interaction,thus improving their well-being.Does volunteering in older people increase their happiness espeeially for the Chinese sample.Based on 4403 older people aged 60 and above from the 2013 CHARLS as the research object,this article adopts Probit and PSM model to investigate the influence,mechanisms and differences of elderly people’s participation in voluntary services on their happiness.After the empirical studies,it is found that the participation of the Chinese elderly in voluntary service can significantly improve the level of well-being,especially for women,non-party members,and the elderly with good economic conditions.Voluntary behavior can improve their well-being mainly by improving their positive emotions.The research value of this paper is that it provides empirical evidence for ensuring the welfare of the elderly and building a mutual aid social participation system for the elderly.