Personal Backgrounds and Differences in Urban Older Adults’ Leisure Time Use

Aim: The study focused on healthy, urban-dwelling older adults. Its aims were to: (1) identify patterns and gaps in their allocation of time to leisure activities, and (2) assess how these patterns compared according to their personal background characteristics.
Study Design: A printed questionnaire collected data from volunteers aged 55+ on personal background factors and time spent on 20 types of activities during the past week.
Place and Duration of Study: Data were collected over three months in 2011 from volunteers at seniors’ centres, malls, and through personal contacts in a western Canadian city.
Methodology: The study was guided by research questions about how choices of individual activities and activity categories compared according to background characteristics. Statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics for Macintosh, version 19.
Results: Of the 343 surveys distributed, 86.9% were returned fully completed and usable. Respondents spent an average of 76.6 hours per week in leisure, with 63.2% in active activities. Respondents spent the most time, in descending order, in sub-categories passive leisure, cognitively active leisure, and socially active leisure. 94.2% of respondents’ leisure time was spent on activities for themselves rather than for others. T-tests and ANOVAs identified differences with respect to background characteristics; time spent on particular leisure activities and activity categories differed significantly according to gender, age, work status, income, ethnic origin, marital status, living situation, education, and income (P<.05).
Conclusion: The study confirmed that time spent by healthy urban older adults time on particular leisure activities and categories of activities differed significantly with respect to personal background characteristics. The results suggest that while respondents were physically active, they preferred more solitary activities and might be missing opportunities for enhanced well-being from education, more social leisure time, and volunteer activities.