Does volunteering improve the psychosocial well‐being of volunteers?
January 2, 2025
The act of volunteering is prevalent in Singapore, with key initiatives such as Values in Action in public schools fostering this behaviour within children from a young age. Existing trial studies have yielded inconclusive results on whether volunteering produces beneficial causal effects on the general population, specifically psychosocial outcomes, which refer to the life satisfaction, self-esteem, and social well-being of volunteers. ‘Does volunteering improve the psychosocial well‐being of volunteers?’ (Current Psychology, 2023) by Associate Professor Eddie M. W. Tong, Chew Tai-Wen, Dr. Corrine S.-L. Ong, and Dr. Vincent Y. S. Oh (all NUS Psychology) investigates the presence of such a causal relationship, which may shape one’s decision to continue or cease volunteering participation.
Using a quasi-experimental study, the researchers examined the general psychosocial well-being in the daily lives of participants instead of strictly their thoughts on volunteering. They focused on NUS undergraduates who volunteered for community services, contrasting them with matched controls. The researchers found no evidence that volunteers benefit psychosocially from their volunteering experiences, as there were no significant changes in the trajectory of the examined psychosocial variables before and after volunteering.
With that being said, the researchers recognised that the selected respondents were largely from a similar demographic—undergraduates from Singaporean universities who were predominantly from middle to upper-class families. They suggested that a more substantial time period might be required for significant psychosocial variables to be affected. Hence, the researchers recommend further studies to examine participants with varying levels of psychological and physical health, situational differences, as well as a wider range of cultures and age groups, so as to expand our knowledge of the potential psychosocial benefits of volunteering.
Read the article here.
