Changes in volunteering among the young old in the Netherlands: The impact of religion, age-norms and intergenerational transmission

The positive trend in volunteering among the Dutch young old may in part be due to a relatively favorable disposition to volunteer. Using data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, volunteering rates of 55-64 year olds in 1992 and 2002 were compared and associated with (among others) three types of dispositional factors: religious involvement, age-related engagement norms, and parental socialization. The recent cohort was less religiously involved, but more supportive of social engagement at older age, and more often had parents who volunteered, were religiously involved or higher educated. Multivariate analyses revealed that cohort differences were largely explained by cohort differences in educational level and religious involvement. It is concluded that their lower religious level suppresses the volunteering rate of the current young old. To compensate for the decline in religious young old, family and the broader society will become more important for stimulating volunteer work in the future.