Hostname: page-component-6587cd75c8-h2j7s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-23T10:44:29.722Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pattern of participation in leisure activities among older people in relation to their health conditions and contextual factors: a survey in a Swedish urban area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2009

STEPHANIE PAILLARD-BORG ,
HUI-XIN WANG ,
BENGT WINBLAD  and
LAURA FRATIGLIONI
STEPHANIE PAILLARD-BORG*
Affiliation:
Aging Research Center, NVS Department, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, Stockholm, Sweden.
HUI-XIN WANG
Affiliation:
Aging Research Center, NVS Department, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, Stockholm, Sweden.
BENGT WINBLAD
Affiliation:
Aging Research Center, NVS Department, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, Stockholm, Sweden.
LAURA FRATIGLIONI
Affiliation:
Aging Research Center, NVS Department, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, Stockholm, Sweden.
*
Address for correspondence: Stéphanie Paillard-Borg, Aging Research Center, Karolinska InstitutetGävlegatan 16, SE-113 30Stockholm, Sweden. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The objective of this study is to describe the pattern of participation in leisure activities in an older population in relation to contextual factors as well as to mental and physical health. A cohort of 1,623 participants aged 75 or older living in Stockholm, Sweden was asked to list all the leisure activities they were engaged in. These were successively organised into 31 major categories and further grouped into mental, social, physical, productive and recreational types. The pattern of participation was examined in relation to age, gender, contextual factors (education, social network) and health status (depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, dementia, somatic diseases and physical limitation). In spite of their advanced age, the majority of the population was active, as 70 per cent had participated in at least one activity. Reading (19%) was the most prevalent individual activity, and mental activities (43%) the most prevalent activity type. Older age, female gender, low education status, having a poor or limited social network, mental disorders, and physical limitation, were all factors correlated with a decreased engagement in ‘at least one activity’. Contextual factors and health-related factors were related to the five activity types in different ways. The pattern of participation in leisure activities is associated with multiple factors and their recognition is essential to the facilitation of an active lifestyle in the older population.

Keywords

leisure activitiesmental disordersphysical limitationelderly population
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , July 2009 , pp. 803 - 821
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Agahi, N. and Parker, M. G. 2005. Are today's older people more active than their predecessors? Participation in leisure-time activities in Sweden in 1992 and 2002. Ageing & Society, 25, 925–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alfredsson, L., von Arbin, M. and de Faire, U. 1986. Mortality from and incidence of stroke in Stockholm. British Medical Journal, 292, 6531, 1299–303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association (APA) 1987. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition, revised (DSM-III-R). APA, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Baltes, M. M., Wahl, H. W. and Schmid-Furstoss, U. 1990. The daily life of elderly Germans: activity patterns, personal control, and functional health. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 45, 4, P173–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baltes, P. B. and Baltes, M. M. 1990. Psychological perspectives on successful aging: the model of selective optimization with compensation. In Baltes, P. B. and Baltes, M. M. (eds), Successful Aging: Perspectives from the Behavioral Sciences. Cambridge University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bassuk, S. S., Glass, T. A. and Berkman, L. F. 1999. Social disengagement and incident cognitive decline in community-dwelling elderly persons. Annals of Internal Medicine, 131, 3, 165–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berger, A.-K., Fratiglioni, L., Forsell, Y., Winblad, B. and Bäckman, L. 1999. The occurrence of depressive symptoms in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease: a population-based study. Neurology, 53, 9, 1998–2002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brorsson, R. and Asberg, K. H. 1984. Katz index of independence in ADL: reliability and validity in short-term care. Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 16, 3, 125–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, C. A., McGuire, F. A. and Voelkl, J. 2008. The link between successful aging and serious leisure. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 66, 1, 73–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crowe, M., Andel, R. and Pedersen, N. L. 2003. Does participation in leisure activities lead to reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease? A prospective study of Swedish twins. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 58, 5, P249–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Groot, L. C., Verheijden, M. W., de Henauw, S., Schroll, M. and van Staveren, W. A. 2004. Lifestyle, nutritional status, health, and mortality in elderly people across Europe: a review of the longitudinal results of the SENECA study. Journals of Gerontology: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 59, 12, 1277–84.Google ScholarPubMed
DiPietro, L. 2001. Physical activity in aging: changes in patterns and their relationship to health and function. Journal of Gerontology: Medical sciences, 56, special number 2, M13–22.Google ScholarPubMed
Everard, K. M., Lach, H. W., Fisher, E. B. and Baum, C. M. 2000. Relationship of activity and social support to the functional health of older adult. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 55, 4, S208–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabrigoule, C., Letenneur, L., Dartigues, J. F., Zarrouk, M., Commenges, D. and Barberger-Gateau, P. 1995. Social and leisure activities and risk of dementia: a prospective longitudinal study. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 43, 5, 485–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. and McHugh, P. R. 1975. ‘Mini-Mental State’: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 3, 189–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fratiglioni, L., Grut, M., Forsell, Y., Viitanen, M. and Winblad, B. 1992 a. Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimmer's disease and other dementias in a population survey: agreement and causes of disagreement in applying DSM-III-R criteria. Archives of Neurology, 49, 9, 927–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fratiglioni, L., Grut, M., Forsell, Y., Viitanen, M., Grafstrom, M., Holmen, K., Ericsson, K., Backman, L., Ahlbom, A. and Winblad, B. 1991. Prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias in an elderly urban population: relationship with age, sex, and education. Neurology, 41, 12, 1886–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fratiglioni, L., Wang, H. X., Ericsson, K., Maytan, M. and Winblad, B. 2000. Influence of social network on occurrence of dementia: a community-based longitudinal study. Lancet, 355, 9212, 1315–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garfein, A. J. and Herzog, A. R. 1995. Robust aging among young-old, old-old, and oldest-old. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 50, 2, S77–S87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glass, T. A., Mendes de Leon, C., Marottoli, R. A. and Berkman, L. F. 1999. Population based study of social and productive activities as predictors of survival among elderly Americans. British Medical Journal, 319, 7208, 478–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glass, T. A., Seeman, T. E., Herzog, A. R., Kahn, R. and Berkman, L. F. 1995. Change in productive activity in late adulthood: MacArthur studies of successful aging. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 50, 2, S65–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herzog, A. R., Kahn, R., Morgan, J. N., Jackson, J. S. and Antonucci, T. C. 1989. Age differences in productive activities. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 44, 4, S129–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillerås, P. K., Jorm, A. F., Herlitz, A. and Winblad, B. 1999. Activity patterns in very old people: a survey of cognitively intact subjects aged 90 years or older. Age and Ageing, 28, 2, 147–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horgas, A. L., Wilms, H. U. and Baltes, M. M. 1998. Daily life in very old age: everyday activities as expression of successful living. The Gerontologist, 38, 5, 556–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hu, J.-C. 1990. Hobbies of retired people in the Peoples' Republic of China: a preliminary study. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 31, 1, 31–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hultsch, D. F., Hammer, M. and Small, B. J. 1993. Age differences in cognitive performance in later life: relationships to self-reported health and activity life style. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 48, 1, P1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobs, J. M., Hammerman-Rozenberg, R., Cohen, A. and Stessman, J. 2008. Reading daily predicts reduced mortality among men from a cohort of community-dwelling 70-year-olds. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 63, 2, S73–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaplan, G. A., Strawbridge, W. J., Cohen, R. D. and Hungerford, L. R. 1996. Natural history of leisure-time physical activity and its correlates: associations with mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease over 28 years. American Journal of Epidemiology, 144, 8, 793–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karp, A., Paillard-Borg, S., Wang, H.-X., Silverstein, M., Winblad, B. and Fratiglioni, L. 2006. Mental, physical, and social components in leisure activities equally contributes to decrease dementia risk. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 21, 2, 65–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katz, S., Ford, A. B., Moskowitz, R. W., Jackson, B. A. and Jaffe, M. W. 1963. Studies of illness in the aged. The index of ADL: a standardized measure of biological and physiological function. Journal of the American Medical Association, 185, 914–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, J. R. and Ross, J.-E. 1988. Later-life leisure: beginning a new agenda. Leisure Sciences, 11, 1, 47–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, J. R. and Steinkamp, M. W. 1997. Later life leisure: how they play in Peoria. The Gerontologist, 26, 5, 531–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolawnoski, A., Buettner, L., Litaker, M. and Yu, F. 2006. Factors that relate to activity engagement in nursing home residents. American Journal of Alzheimers Diease and Other Dementias, 21, 1, 15–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsson, K. 2007. The social situation of older people in Sweden – the national social report 2006. International Journal of Social Welfare, 16, supplement 1, 203–18.Google Scholar
Lawton, M. P. 1983. Time, space and activity. In Rowles, and Ohta, (eds), Aging and Milieu: Environmental Perspectives on Growing Old. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lawton, M. P. 1986. Environment and aging. CSA, Albany.Google Scholar
Lawton, M. P., Moss, M. and Fulcomer, M. 1987. Objective and subjective uses of time by older people. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 24, 3, 171–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, J., Drinka, T. J., Abler, R., Gunter-Hunt, G., Matthews, C., Gravenstein, S. and Carnes, M. 1994. Screening for depression: single question versus GDS. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 42, 9, 1006–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Mollenkopf, H., Marcellini, F., Ruoppila, I., Széman, Z. and Tacken, M. (eds) 2005. Enhancing Mobility in Later Life: Personal Coping, Environmental Resources, and Technical Support. IOS Press, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Mollenkopf, H., Marcellini, F., Ruoppila, I., Széman, Z., Tacken, M. and Wahl, H.-W. 2004. Social and behavioural science perspectives on out-of-home mobility in later life: findings from the European project MOBILATE. European Journal of Ageing, 1, 545–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newson, R. S. and Kemps, E. B. 2005. General lifestyle activities as a predictor of current cognition and cognitive change in older adults: a cross-sectional and longitudinal examination. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 60, 3, P113–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pohjolainen, P., Heikkinen, E., Lyyra, A. L., Helin, S. and Tyrkko, K. 1997. Socio-economic status, health and life-style in two elderly cohorts in Jyväskylä. Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine, 52, Supplement, 1–65.Google ScholarPubMed
Patterson, I. 1996. Participation in leisure activities by older adults after a stressful life event: the loss of a spouse. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 42, 2, 123–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pezzottti, P., Scalmana, S., Mastromattei, A. and Di Lallo, D. 2008. The accuracy of the MMSE in detecting cognitive impairment when administered by general practitioners: a prospective observational study. BMC Family Practice, 9, 29, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piro, F. N., Noess, Ø. and Claussen, B. 2006. Physical activity among elderly people in a city population: the influence of neighbourhood level violence and self perceived safety. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60, 7, 626–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radloff, L. S. and Teri, L. 1986. Use of the Center for Epidemiological Studies depression scale with older adults. Clinical Gerontology, 5, 119–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Resnick, H. E., Fries, B. E. and Verbrugge, L. M. 1997. Windows to their world: the effect of sensory impairments on social engagement and activity time in nursing home residents. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 52, S135–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruoppila, I., Marcellini, F., Mollenkopf, H., Hirsiaho, N., Baas, S., Principi, A., Ciarrocchi, S. and Wetzel, D. 2003. The MOBILATE Cohort Study 1995–2000: Enhancing Outdoor Mobility in Later Life: The Differences Between Persons Aged 55–59 Years and 75–79 Years in 1995 and 2000. DZFA Research Report 17. German Centre for Research on Ageing, Heidelberg, Germany.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. W. and Kahn, R. L. 1997. Successful aging. The Gerontologist, 37, 4, 433–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schroll, M., Jonsson, P. V., Mor, V., Berg, K. and Sherwood, S. 1997. An international study of social engagement among nursing home residents. Age and Ageing, 26, Supplement 2, 55–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seeman, T. E., Berkman, L. F., Charpentier, P. A., Blazer, D. G., Albert, M. S. and Tinetti, M. E. 1995. Behavioral and psychosocial predictors of physical performance: MacArthur studies of successful aging. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 50, 4, M177–M83.Google ScholarPubMed
Silverstein, M. and Parker, M. G. 2002. Leisure activities and quality of life among the oldest old in Sweden. Research on Aging, 24, 5, 528–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinbach, U. 1991. Social networks, institutionalization, and mortality among elderly people in the United States. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 47, 4, S183–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strain, L. A., Grabusic, C. C., Searle, M. S. and Dunn, N. J. 2002. Continuing and ceasing leisure activities in later life: a longitudinal study. The Gerontologist, 42, 2, 217–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verbrugge, L. M., Gruber-Baldini, A. L. and Fozard, J. L. 1996. Age differences and age changes in activities: Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 51, 1, S30–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verghese, J., Lipton, R. B., Katz, M. J., Hall, C. B., Derby, C. A., Kuslansky, G., Ambrose, A. F., Sliwinski, M. and Buschke, H. 2003. Leisure activities and the risk of dementia in the elderly. New England Journal of Medicine, 348, 5, 2508–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, H.-X., Karp, A., Winblad, B. and Fratiglioni, L. 2002. Late-life engagement in social and leisure activities is associated with a decreased risk of dementia: a longitudinal study from the Kungsholmen Project. American Journal of Epidemiology, 155, 12, 1081–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organisation (WHO). 1967. International Classification of Diseases. Manual of International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death. Eighth revision, Volume 1. WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Yesavage, J. A. and Brink, T. L. 1983. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 17, 1, 37–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar