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Productive Engagement and Late Life Physical and Mental Health

Findings from a Nationally Representative Panel Study

College of Social Work, Florida State University, Tallahassee

Nancy Morrow-Howell

Center for Social Development, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri

Philip A. Rozario

School of Social Work, Adelphi University, Garden City, New York

This study examines the association between engagement in productive roles and the physical and mental health of adults aged 60 and over. We present secondary analyses of data from three waves of the Americans' Changing Lives Study (n = 1,644). Self-rated health, functional impairment, and depressive mood were regressed on measures of engagement during the previous 12 months using generalized estimating equations, while controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and health measures at the previous wave. Five productive roles were included: paid worker, irregular paid worker, unpaid volunteer, caregiver, and provider of informal social assistance. The findings reveal that being engaged in at least one productive role and the total role number are associated with better self-rated health and less functional impairment but not depressive mood. There is no effect of hours of engagement. The findings illuminate productive engagement as an important, but not necessarily causal, pathway to health in late life.

Key Words: working • volunteering • caregiving • activity patterns • health outcomes

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