Title

Volunteer Work, Religious Commitment, and Resting Pulse Rates

School/Department

Rosemead School of Psychology

Publication Date

4-2017

Abstract

Research indicates that greater involvement in volunteer activities is associated with better health. We aim to contribute to this literature in two ways. First, rather than rely on self-reports of health, measured resting pulse rates serve as the dependent variable. Second, an effort is made to see if religious commitment moderates the relationship between volunteering and resting pulse rates. Data that come from a recent nationwide survey (N = 2265) suggest that volunteer work is associated with lower resting pulse rates. The results also reveal that the relationship between engaging in volunteer work and resting pulse rates improves among study participants who are more deeply committed to religion.

Keywords

Volunteers; Resting pulse rate; Commitment (Psychology)--Religious aspects

Publication Title

Journal of Religion and Health volume

Volume

56

First Page

591

Last Page

603

DOI of Published Version

10.1007/s10943-016-0347-z

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