Oral Papers (individual papers and papers within a symposium) and Posters Informal Interactions with Neighbors, Formal Volunteering, and Life Satisfaction: Evaluating Older Adults Living In a New Urbanism Community

Background. Social capital refers to social connections among individuals, groups, and organizations that often exchange information, resources, and support. Interacting with neighbors can often enhance one’s bonding social capital (i.e., strong social ties among people sharing similar resources and experiences in the same community), whereas organized volunteering beyond one’s community enriches bridging social capital (i.e., weak social ties with people with different resources and experiences beyond the immediate community). However, because few studies have compared the benefits of formal volunteering and interaction with neighbors, the relative importance of these individual and combined social engagements to older adults’ well-being is unclear. Moreover, not all older adults are interested in or able to engage in formal volunteering, but many have access to social interactions with neighbors. Using data collected in a New Urbanism (NU) neighborhood designed to encourage social interactions within the community through the built environment (e.g., walkability, mixed land use), this study addresses the following research questions: (1) Are formal volunteering and interactions with neighbors independently associated with life satisfaction? (2) Does the association between volunteering and life satisfaction depend on whether older adults have frequent interactions with neighbors?

Methods. This study uses data drawn from a multimodal (Qualtrics, in-person, and via mail) cross-sectional survey of community design and well-being among mid-life and older adults in a NU community and their neighboring communities in Northeast Florida (n = 97). On average, our participants were 70.81 years old (SD=8.96). To address our research questions, we estimated ordinary least squares regression models that included interaction terms and employed robust standard errors to account for potential heteroscedasticity. Marginal effect analysis was performed in Stata to contextualize the interaction effect.

Results. Volunteering (β = 0.278, p = 0.08) and informal interactions with neighbors (β = 0.462, p = 0.02) were both positively associated with the life satisfaction of older adults in the final adjusted model. Further, the interaction between regular formal volunteering and interactions with neighbors was statistically significant (β = -0.888, p = 0.01). Among older residents who did not volunteer regularly, those with frequent interactions with neighbors had higher life satisfaction than those without. No difference in life satisfaction was observed among those who volunteer regularly, regardless of their interactions with neighbors.

Implications. Bonding and bridging social capital may both be relevant to well-being in later life. Bonding social capital, such as interactions with neighbors, can enhance a sense of community and provide timely instrumental support due to geographic proximity. Results from our interaction analysis suggest that in a highly socially engaged community, it is not the presence of a certain type of social capital, but rather the absence of both bonding and bridging capital that is consequential to life satisfaction. Interventions designed to bolster social interactions in later life should consider the inclusion of a wide variety of social activities that enrich different types of social capital and explore how different combinations of social capital may work independently or collectively to shape life satisfaction in later life.