Table 4.
Random effects meta-analysis of helping proportions by demographic category.
| Variable | Category | Proportion | 95% CI of proportion | SE analogue (CI Width/4) | Prediction interval | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LL | UL | τ | I^2 | Global p-value | |||||
| Age group | < 0.001** | ||||||||
| 18–24 | 0.60 | (0.53, 0.66) | 0.03 | 0.19 | 0.75 | 0.16 | 94.9 | ||
| 25–29 | 0.59 | (0.52, 0.67) | 0.04 | 0.13 | 0.84 | 0.18 | 95.8 | ||
| 30–39 | 0.59 | (0.52, 0.67) | 0.04 | 0.14 | 0.84 | 0.18 | 95.6 | ||
| 40–49 | 0.58 | (0.50, 0.65) | 0.04 | 0.13 | 0.83 | 0.18 | 95.6 | ||
| 50–59 | 0.57 | (0.48, 0.66) | 0.04 | 0.11 | 0.88 | 0.21 | 96.7 | ||
| 60–69 | 0.51 | (0.43, 0.60) | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.85 | 0.20 | 96.4 | ||
| 70–79 | 0.45 | (0.37, 0.54) | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.83 | 0.20 | 96.4 | ||
| 80 or older | 0.48 | (0.29, 0.67) | 0.09 | 0.09 | 1.00 | 0.47 | 99.3 | ||
| Gender | < 0.001** | ||||||||
| Male | 0.58 | (0.50, 0.65) | 0.04 | 0.12 | 0.84 | 0.18 | 95.9 | ||
| Female | 0.54 | (0.46, 0.61) | 0.04 | 0.12 | 0.80 | 0.18 | 95.6 | ||
| Other | 0.56 | (0.18, 0.88) | 0.17 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.92 | 99.8 | ||
| Marital status | < 0.001** | ||||||||
| Married | 0.55 | (0.47, 0.63) | 0.04 | 0.11 | 0.84 | 0.19 | 96.2 | ||
| Separated | 0.57 | (0.48, 0.65) | 0.04 | 0.16 | 0.83 | 0.21 | 96.8 | ||
| Divorced | 0.56 | (0.48, 0.64) | 0.04 | 0.13 | 0.80 | 0.19 | 96.1 | ||
| Widowed | 0.49 | (0.41, 0.57) | 0.04 | 0.12 | 0.84 | 0.19 | 96.1 | ||
| Domestic partner | 0.54 | (0.47, 0.61) | 0.04 | 0.18 | 0.70 | 0.16 | 94.7 | ||
| Single, never married | 0.57 | (0.50, 0.64) | 0.04 | 0.13 | 0.79 | 0.17 | 95.1 | ||
| Employment status | < 0.001** | ||||||||
| Employed for an employer | 0.59 | (0.51, 0.67) | 0.04 | 0.13 | 0.85 | 0.18 | 95.9 | ||
| Self-employed | 0.63 | (0.55, 0.70) | 0.04 | 0.16 | 0.84 | 0.17 | 95.7 | ||
| Retired | 0.48 | (0.40, 0.57) | 0.04 | 0.08 | 0.87 | 0.21 | 96.7 | ||
| Student | 0.58 | (0.51, 0.65) | 0.04 | 0.16 | 0.73 | 0.16 | 95.0 | ||
| Homemaker | 0.51 | (0.43, 0.59) | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.80 | 0.19 | 95.9 | ||
| Unemployed and looking for a job | 0.55 | (0.46, 0.63) | 0.04 | 0.09 | 0.78 | 0.20 | 96.4 | ||
| None of these/other | 0.52 | (0.45, 0.60) | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.78 | 0.18 | 95.8 | ||
| Education | < 0.001** | ||||||||
| Up to 8 years | 0.51 | (0.43, 0.60) | 0.04 | 0.13 | 0.82 | 0.20 | 96.3 | ||
| 9–15 years | 0.56 | (0.47, 0.63) | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.82 | 0.19 | 96.0 | ||
| 16 + years | 0.62 | (0.55, 0.70) | 0.04 | 0.18 | 0.90 | 0.17 | 95.8 | ||
| Religious service attendance | < 0.001** | ||||||||
| > 1/week | 0.64 | (0.57, 0.71) | 0.03 | 0.26 | 0.88 | 0.16 | 95.1 | ||
| 1/week | 0.60 | (0.53, 0.67) | 0.03 | 0.19 | 0.80 | 0.16 | 95.0 | ||
| 1–3/month | 0.60 | (0.53, 0.67) | 0.04 | 0.23 | 0.81 | 0.16 | 95.1 | ||
| A few times a year | 0.57 | (0.49, 0.64) | 0.04 | 0.16 | 0.81 | 0.17 | 95.0 | ||
| Never | 0.51 | (0.44, 0.59) | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.81 | 0.18 | 95.5 | ||
| Immigration status | < 0.001** | ||||||||
| Born in this country | 0.56 | (0.48, 0.63) | 0.04 | 0.12 | 0.82 | 0.18 | 95.8 | ||
| Born in another country | 0.59 | (0.51, 0.65) | 0.04 | 0.23 | 0.90 | 0.17 | 95.1 | ||
Note: *p < .05; **p < .007 (Bonferroni corrected threshold).
Proportion: Estimated overall proportion in the category.
95% CI of Proportion: The 95% CI for the estimated overall proportion of people who reported helping for each demographic category.
SE Analogue (CI Width/4): Standard error for the estimated overall proportion for each demographic group.
Prediction interval: Reflects how the country-specific proportion vary. LL: Lower limit of the 95% prediction interval. UP: Upper limit of the 95% prediction interval.
τ (tau; heterogeneity): Measures the standard deviation of the distribution of proportions across countries. It is an estimate of how much the proportion in that demographic category varies across countries.
I^2: Estimates how much of the variability in proportions is due to heterogeneity across countries versus sampling variability. Given that the sample sizes of this study are large, the I^2 is high.
Global p-value: Tests the null hypothesis that the demographic category does not matter in any of the 22 countries.