Development of a scale assessing retired older adults’ attitudes to volunteering
Abstract
Objective: Given positive attitudes to volunteering are likely to be associated with support for volunteering and individual participation, this study aimed to develop and test a 10-item ‘attitudes to formal volunteering’ scale for retired older adults that could be used to inform intervention efforts. Method: A sample of 801 Australian retirees (62% female; mean age: 71.9 years) completed a survey that included the attitude scale, demographic items and questions assessing engagement in volunteering. Results: A principal component analysis identified two factors (general attitude to volunteering and attitude to participating in volunteering) that together accounted for 64% of the variance in attitude scores. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated the two-factor model was an excellent fit to the data. Cronbach's alphas for both factors were > 0.80, and both were positively associated with volunteering engagement. Conclusion: The proposed scale is a potentially useful instrument for measuring attitudes to volunteering among retired older adults.
Keywords
attitudes, factor analysis, statistical, healthy aging, reliability and validity, volunteerism
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
2021
Volume
40
Issue
3
Publication Title
Australasian Journal on Ageing
Publisher
Wiley
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences / Exercise Medicine Research Institute / Centre for Exercise and Sports Science Research
RAS ID
35529
Funders
Australian Research Council
Grant Number
ARC Number : DP140100365
Grant Link
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP140100365
Copyright
subscription content
First Page
e254
Last Page
e261
Comments
Dana, L. M., Jongenelis, M. I., Jackson, B., Newton, R. U., & Pettigrew, S. (2021). Development of a scale assessing retired older adults’ attitudes to volunteering. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 40(3), e254-e261. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajag.12907