Leisure Participation and Enjoyment Among the Elderly: Individual Characteristics and Sociability

Abstract

Using data from a national survey of adults in Taiwan, this study explored how often older adults participate in and how much they enjoy 2 mostly-solitary leisure activities (reading books and watching TV/DVDs/videos) and 2 mostly-social leisure activities (socializing with friends and engaging in physical activities). According to ordinal regression analyses of these 4 dependent variables, individual characteristics (such as age, health, education level, and rural/urban residence) significantly contributed to older adults' leisure participation and enjoyment. More importantly, such participation and enjoyment also varied by the extent of sociability (social contacts, a preference for being with others, and a desire for making friends through leisure activities).

The Taiwan Social Change Survey reported in this study was conducted at the Academia Sinica and was supported by a grant from the National Science Council, Taiwan, ROC, NSC 96-2420-H-001-002. This work was also supported by a short-term visiting program of the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica in Taiwan, which funded the first author in 2008 under contract number 81v309.

Notes

∗p < .05, ∗∗p < .01, ∗∗∗p < .001.

∗p < .05, ∗∗p < .01, ∗∗∗p < .001.

Note. The comparison groups of independent variables are in brackets.

∗p < .05, ∗∗p < .01, ∗∗∗p < .001.

Note. The comparison groups of independent variables are in brackets.