Differential Associations Between Volunteering and Subjective Well-Being by Labor Force Status: An Investigation of Experiential and Evaluative Well-Being Using Time Use Data

Abundant research has found that volunteering is associated with better subjective well-being, and the benefits of volunteering vary by individual characteristics. However, most research is based on evaluative well-being that measures how people perceive their lives overall, rather than experiential well-being that measures how people feel at the moment. Using data from the American Time Use Survey Well-being Module, this study examines whether formal volunteering is associated with daily experiential well-being (i.e. happy, sad, stress, tired, pain, meaning, net affect, U-index) and whether the associations vary by labor force status. The findings demonstrate that volunteering is generally associated with improved daily experience for those not in labor force but not the unemployed individuals. This study contributes to the growing research on individual differences in the relationship between volunteering and subjective well-being and provides both theoretical and policy implications.