Means, SDs or prevalence of variables (n=66 343 person-years; pooled sample across seven waves) from BHPS 1996–2008
| Variables | N (%) | Volunteering | Mean GHQ (SD) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent volunteered | Infrequent volunteered | Rarely volunteered | Never volunteered | |||
| Volunteering | 66 343 | 7% | 9% | 5% | 79% | |
| Mean GHQ score | 66 343 | 10.7 (5.2) | 10.9 (5.2) | 10.8 (5.2) | 11.4 (5.5) | 11.2 (5.4) |
| Mean age (years) | 66 343 | 50.8 (17.0) | 48.2 (15.9) | 40.8 (14.8) | 46.0 (17.7) | 46.3 (17.5) |
| Age groups | ||||||
| 15–29 | 12 653 (19) | 4.3 | 5.8 | 6.8 | 83.1 | 10.6 (5.4) |
| 30–44 | 21 078 (32) | 5.7 | 9.0 | 6.0 | 79.3 | 11.3 (5.5) |
| 45–59 | 16 623 (25) | 7.1 | 10.6 | 5.3 | 77.0 | 11.8 (5.7) |
| 60–74 | 11 002 (17) | 10.7 | 11.3 | 2.9 | 75.0 | 10.9 (5.1) |
| 75+ | 4987 (8) | 7.7 | 6.2 | 1.4 | 84.7 | 11.6 (95.1) |
| Sex | 66 343 | |||||
| Male | 31 014 (47) | 5.6 | 8.7 | 5.3 | 80.5 | 10.5 (5.0) |
| Female | 35 329 (53) | 7.9 | 9.2 | 4.9 | 78.0 | 11.9 (5.7) |
| Marital status | 66 343 | |||||
| Married | 44 709 (67.4) | 6.7 | 9.6 | 5.2 | 78.5 | 11.1 (5.1) |
| Never married | 11 559 (17.4) | 5.8 | 7.3 | 6.6 | 80.2 | 10.8 (5.5) |
| Divorced/separated/widowed | 10 075 (15.2) | 8.2 | 7.9 | 3.0 | 80.9 | 12.4 (6.0) |
| Having children in the household | 66 343 | |||||
| Yes | 17 891 (27) | 5.9 | 9.8 | 6.1 | 78.1 | 11.2 (5.4) |
| No | 48 452 (73) | 7.1 | 8.6 | 4.8 | 79.5 | 11.4 (5.5) |
| Level of education | 66 343 | |||||
| Low | 17 552 (26.5) | 5.2 | 4.6 | 2.2 | 88.1 | 11.7 (5.4) |
| Medium | 21 292 (32.1) | 5.9 | 7.5 | 5.3 | 81.3 | 11.2 (5.3) |
| High | 27 499 (41.5) | 8.5 | 12.8 | 6.8 | 71.8 | 11.0 (5.3) |
| Recent social class | 66 343 | |||||
| Non-manual | 38 609 (58.2) | 7.9 | 11.2 | 6.2 | 74.8 | 11.1 (5.4) |
| Manual | 27 734 (41.8) | 5.2 | 5.9 | 3.7 | 85.2 | 11.4 (5.6) |
| Household income* | 66 343 (403.4) | 412.8 | 458.1 | 459.4 | 395.4 | |
| General health | 66 343 | |||||
| Excellent | 15 258 (23) | 7.2 | 9.9 | 6.1 | 76.7 | 9.1 (4.1) |
| Good | 44 817 (68) | 6.7 | 8.9 | 5.1 | 79.2 | 11.2 (5.0) |
| Poor | 6268 (9) | 5.9 | 6.4 | 3.1 | 84.6 | 16.7 (7.4) |
| Active member to organisations | 66 343 | |||||
| None | 35 551 (53.6) | 2.6 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 88.8 | 11.5 (5.6) |
| 1 | 20 226 (30.5) | 8.5 | 10.4 | 5.4 | 75.7 | 11.0 (5.1) |
| 2 or more | 10 566 (15.9) | 17.5 | 22.3 | 7.0 | 53.2 | 10.8 (5.1) |
The associations between categorical variables reported here were significant as indicated by the χ2 test, same is the case of associations between continuous and categorical variables (F-test using ANOVA).
*Monthly income in the McClements Equivalence scale.
ANOVA, analysis of variance; BHPS, British Household Panel Survey; GHQ, General Health Questionnaire; Frequent volunteering, at least once a week; Infrequent volunteering, at least once a month or many times a year; Rare volunteering, once or less a year.