Volunteerism in a community-based sample of women aged 50 to 80 years

This paper has 2 purposes: (a) to present the differences in demographic an d health characteristics of older women volunteers and nonvolunteers in a c ommunity-based sample; (b) to identify the motivations of current and past volunteers, as contrasted with those who have never volunteered. A populati on-based sun ey was conducted with a sample of 1,104 women aged 50 to 80 ye ars in the stare of Washington. Nonvolunteers were less likely to be marrie d and were slightly less likely to be White than were current or past volun teers. Demographic variables (e.g., age) and health status predicted level of reported motivation for volunteering. These data provide us with populat ion-based estimates of volunteering and motivations for older women.