2025-08-14 テキサス大学オースチン校(UT Austin)
<関連情報>
- https://news.utexas.edu/2025/08/14/helping-others-shown-to-slow-cognitive-decline/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625007968
高齢期の援助行動と認知機能:動的な役割移行と関与度の変化が及ぼす影響 Helping behaviors and cognitive function in later life: The impact of dynamic role transitions and dose changes
Sae Hwang Han, Jeffrey A. Burr, Shiyang Zhang
Social Science & Medicine Available online: 31 July 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118465
Highlights
- We investigated how prosocial helping behaviors shape cognitive health in later life.
- We focused on two forms of helping: formal volunteering and informal helping.
- Both forms of helping were associated with higher levels of cognitive function.
- Sustained engagement in helping led to accumulated cognitive benefits over time.
- Helping behaviors present modifiable lifestyle factors for promoting cognitive health.
Abstract
Despite the burgeoning literature linking prosocial helping behaviors and cognitive function, empirical evidence on whether transitions into and out of helping roles—and how dynamic changes in time commitment—shape cognitive outcomes remain limited. Moreover, most research has focused on formal volunteering, leaving the cognitive outcomes associated with informal helping—assistance provided directly to non-household individuals—largely unexplored. The objective of this study was to investigate the linkages between two forms of helping behaviors—formal volunteering and informal helping—and late-life cognitive function, focusing on dynamic changes in these behaviors over time. Drawing on the life course perspective and two decades of longitudinal data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (1998–2020; N = 31,303), we employed the asymmetric fixed-effects modeling approach within a multilevel framework to assess how intra-individual changes in helper role status and time commitment shape cognitive function trajectories. Results indicated that transitioning into volunteering and informal helping were both associated with a higher level of cognitive function and a slower cognitive decline, and highlighted how sustained engagement in helping can yield cumulative cognitive benefits that progressively become greater over time. The findings also provide unique evidence on the level of time commitment in helping behaviors needed to achieve cognitive benefits, where moderate levels of helping (approximately 2–4 weekly hours) were consistently linked to robust cognitive benefits for both forms of helping. These findings highlight prosocial helping behaviors as impactful, modifiable lifestyle interventions for promoting cognitive health in aging populations.
中高年層におけるボランティア活動、慢性ストレス、全身性炎症 Volunteering, chronic stress, and systemic inflammation among middle-aged and older adults
Sae Hwang Han, Jean Choi, Micaela Kuenstler, Yijung Kim
Psychoneuroendocrinology Available online: 17 July 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107552
Highlights
- This study investigated the links between volunteering, chronic stress, and CRP.
- We employed quantile regression techniques to uncover distributional effects.
- We did not find any evidence that volunteering was directly linked to lower CRP.
- Volunteering mitigated the negative effects of stress on CRP at higher CRP levels.
- Findings echo earlier calls for considering volunteering as a health intervention.
Abstract
Background
Although there is a strong theoretical foundation suggesting that prosocial behaviors, such as formal volunteering, can reduce systemic inflammation, empirical support for this link is limited and the potential stress-buffering effect of volunteering remains under-studied. This study aims to address these gaps by examining the relationships between volunteering, chronic stress, and systemic inflammation, measured by C-reactive protein (CRP). In doing so, we conducted distributional analysis to analyze CRP which allowed for identifying subgroups within the population that might benefit most from volunteering.
Methods
We used longitudinal data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (N = 7994). Unconditional quantile regression (UQR) models were employed to 1) examine whether volunteering was directly associated with CRP and to 2) investigate whether volunteering buffered the negative effects of chronic stress on CRP across different levels of inflammation.
Results
The results did not provide any evidence that volunteering was directly linked to CRP. However, volunteering buffered the adverse relationship between chronic stress and inflammation at higher CRP levels, with the stress-buffering effects becoming progressively greater in magnitude toward the upper end of the CRP distribution.
Conclusions
This study is the first to identify the stress-buffering effects of volunteering on inflammation using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample. Our findings from UQR models uncovered unique evidence that the stress-buffering effects may be particularly potent at higher CRP levels, which has important implications for individuals at greater risk of inflammation-related health issues.
