Community and social correlates of leisure activity participation among older adults

ABSTRACT

Except for social network and social support, little research was conducted to examine other social and community factors associated with older adults’ leisure activity participation. This research proposed three community and social factors of sense of community, trust and online social interaction and examined their relationships with leisure activity participation among older adults. It was based on a cross-sectional survey conducted in China in 2017. A total of 423 older adults completed the questionnaire. Regression analyses revealed that sense of community, trust and online social interaction were associated significantly with older adults’ overall leisure activity participation. Among eight individual categories of leisure activities, i.e. mass media, reading, social activities, outdoor activities, sports activities, spectator sports, cultural activities and hobbies, online social interaction was associated significantly with all categories except outdoor activities. Sense of community was associated significantly with all categories except cultural activities and hobbies. Trust was associated significantly with reading, cultural activities and hobbies. The findings highlight the impacts of community and social factors on older adults’ leisure activity participation. The findings also suggest different ways to enhance older adults’ leisure activity participation through promoting their sense of community, trust and online social interaction.

KEYWORDS:

• Leisure activity participation
• sense of community
• trust
• online social interaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Statement of ethical approval

This research was approved by Institute of Overseas Chinese, Huaqiao University, Fujian, China.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wenbiao Zheng

Wenbiao Zheng is a Professor at Huaqiao University, Xiamen, Fujian, China. His research interests include the wellbeing of older adults and overseas Chinese.

Yunong Huang

Yunong Huang is a Lecturer at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. His research focuses on social gerontology, social work with disaster survivors and mental health.

Lei Wu

Lei Wu is an Associate Professor at Renmin University of China, Beijing, China. Her research interests include social work with individuals, social work education and domestic violence.