Activities and Lifestyle Patterns of Older Adults

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Activities and Lifestyle Patterns of Older Adults

• Lesa Lorenzen Huber
• Indiana University

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Introduction

• Activities and lifestyle provide the ebb and flow
  of life. In this session we will
• explore current patterns of activities and
  lifestyle in later life
• consider future trends what activities are the
  boomers likely to participate in?
• consider the implications for the effects of air
  pollution on the health of older
• adults.

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What are the kinds of activities people do?

• Activities can be categorized as core activities
  or balance activities
• Core activities tend to persist throughout life
  (e.g. time with family, personal care, reading)
• Balance activities are related more to personal
  identity, life
• course stages, and roles
• (e.g. outdoor recreation,
• travel, and sports)

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What are the kinds of activities people do?

• The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA)
  categorizes activities as obligatory, committed,
  or discretionary activities
• Obligatory personal care, sleep, etc.
• Committed paid work,
• housework, etc.
• Discretionary
• socializing, hobbies, etc.

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BLSA Changes in Obligatory Activities
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BLSA Changes in Committed Activities
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BLSA Changes in Discretionary Activities
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Legend of SymbolsSlides 8-12

• 1960s men (no data for women)
• 1970s men
• 1970s women
• 1980s men
• 1980s women
• 1990s men
• 1990s women

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BLSA Changes in Paid Work, 60s, 70s, 80s and
90s
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BLSA Changes in Housework Work, 60s, 70s, 80s
and 90s
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BLSA Changes in Socializing, 60s, 70s, 80s
and 90s
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BLSA Changes in Personal Care, 60s, 70s, 80s
and 90s
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Findings from National Time Studies, 60s, 70s
and 90s

• Decreasing work time for paid employees overall
  but increasing work time for women
• Decreasing family care by women
• Increasing family care by men
• Sharp increases in total leisure (mass media,
  adult education, recreation)
• Decreases in some forms of leisure (visiting and
  other informal social life)

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Summary of BLSA Findings

• Older adults spend the most time on obligatory
  and passive leisure
• They spend the least time on committed activities
  and active leisure.
• Time spent on paid work has increased for women,
  while time spent on housework has decreased
• Men have decreased time spent on paid work and
  increased time spent on housework

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Activity Participation Findings From BLSA Since
1996

• Increase in medium-high intensity leisure
  activity participation for men, no change for
  women.
• No change in moderate intensity activity
  participation for men or women
• Decrease in number of
• sedentary men, no
• change for women

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What explains the changes in activity
participation as people age?

• People generally reduce the number of activities
  they engage in and the amount of time they spend
  on each activity.
• Carstensen defines this narrowing as increasing
  selectivity of activities that are found to be
  meaningful, rather than seeing this change as
• disengagement from
• society.

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AARP 2002 Study of Funstyles of Adults
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AARP 2002 Study of Funstyles of Adults
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Summary AARP 2002 Study of Funstyles of Adults

• Most of adults discretionary time is spent at or
  near home
• Most activities are low intensity
• The relative order and priorities of what
  Americans consider fun has not changed from
  01-02
• Some changes from 01-02
• may be due to seasonality
• and slight malaise from
• September 11.

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Another explanation for the changes in activity
participation as people age

• A Continuum of Expressive Involvement Intensity
• Find the last page of your handouts
• Identify your age cohort at the top of the page
• Rank the three things that you do most often
• Rank the three things that you do least often
• Compare rankings with two people near you

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(No Transcript)
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Summary Gordon, Gaitz, and Scott Leisure
participation as a function of increased age

• There is a decrease in activities that are
  outside the home
• There is a decrease in activities that are
  physically demanding.

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Summary Activity and Lifestyle Patterns of Older
Adults

• Most changes in activities with age are gradual.
  There is increasing selectivity of most
  meaningful activities.
• Older people are more likely to be involved in
  sedentary activities than younger people. (e.g.
  TV, visiting, reading)
• Older people spend more time on all activities of
  daily living than younger people. (e.g. sleep,
  rest, eating, shopping, health care)

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Summary Activity and Lifestyle Patterns of Older
Adults

• Changes in activities with age
• Decrease in activities that are highly active,
  external to the home, and physically demanding
• Increase in home-centered sociability and
  media-based symbolic interaction

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Summary Activity and Lifestyle Patterns of Older
Adults

• Gender affects activity patterns and lifestyle.
• Men do more household and yard maintenance, and
  are more likely to work outside the home
• Men increase participation in home-based
  activities with increasing age
• Women do more housework, child care, volunteer
  work, and participate in more voluntary
  associations
• Women increase participation in
• solitary activities

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Summary Activity and Lifestyle Patterns of Older
Adults

• Activity and lifestyle patterns are affected by
  racial and ethnic status
• African Americans are more likely to be involved
  in church related activities, but less likely to
  be involved in other activities.
• Hispanic and Italian elders are more likely to be
  involved in family-related activities than
  English or Scandinavians.
• Todays elders of color have a experienced a
• lifetime of discrimination and may perceive
• barriers to participation in many leisure
• activities

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Summary Activity and Lifestyle Patterns of Older
Adults

• Activity and lifestyle patterns are affected by
  socioeconomic status
• Higher income people are more likely to be
  involved in a wider range of activities.
• Higher and middle income people are more likely
  to be involved in sports, reading, clubs, and
  gardening.
• Lower income people are more inclined to visiting
  with family and friends, crafts, and television.

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Summary Activity and Lifestyle Patterns of Older
Adults

• Activity and lifestyle patterns are affected by
  socioeconomic status (continued)
• Middle-class more community oriented
• Working and lower class more home centered
• Socioeconomic differences in activity
  participation are mostly due to the cost of
  pursuing the activity, not socioeconomic
  differences.
• Reduction in income in later life
• leads to barriers in community
• involvement

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Summary Activity and Lifestyle Patterns of Older
Adults

• Changes in leisure are affected by health and
  mobility. The following activities show decreases
  in participation
• Clubs
• Church activities
• Libraries
• Restaurants
• Parks
• Recreation Centers
• Sporting Events
• Visiting

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Future Trends Older adults are increasingly
better educated
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Future Trends (Most) Older adults are
increasingly better financially prepared
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Preparation for Retirement, 2001Differences
Based on Racial/Ethnic Status
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(No Transcript)
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Future Trends Older adults are in increasingly
better health
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Future Trends Aging in Place

• Aging in Place will become even more viable
  than today, with technologies making homes
  smarter.
• Smart homes may be limited to those that can
  afford it.
• Those that are financially able to buy LTC
  insurance will have more lifestyle options.
• Those with limited financial resources will face
  shrinking options available through Medicaid.
• There may be an ever-increasing gap in lifestyles
  between those with and without financial resources

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Future Trends Migration

• Larger numbers of older adults will live in
  suburbs, fewer in central cities
• Services will continue to re-locate to the
  suburbs
• Boomers will feel confident about re-locating,
  especially to small towns, rural communities, or
  other countries
• Boomers are more likely to choose independent
  housing in communities than large isolated
  retirement communities

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Future Trends MigrationDream Towns for Baby
Boomers

• 1. Loveland/Fort Collins, Colorado
• 2. Bellingham, Washington
• 3. Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• 4. Sarasota, Florida
• 5. Fayetteville, Arkansas

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• 6. Charleston, South Carolina
• 7. Asheville, North Carolina
• 8. San Diego, California
• 9. San Antonio, Texas
• 10. Santa Fe, New Mexico
• 11. Gainesville, Florida
• 12. Iowa City, Iowa
• 13. Portsmouth, New Hampshire
• 14. Spokane, Washington
• 15. Ashland, Oregon

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Future Trends Leisure and Physical Activity
Participation

• Between 1988 and 1995 there was an 18 increase
  in sport, fitness, and outdoor activities and a
  21 increase in fitness-specific activities in
  the baby boom population
• Boomers are very likely to carry their
  orientation toward fitness into retirement
• There may be a high demand for recreational
  resources and pressure for access to competitive
  and high-risk sports from baby boomers as they
  retire
• The high level of educational attainment among
  baby boomers may affect what types of leisure
  activities they prefer
• Research suggests that higher levels of education
  are correlated with larger leisure repertoires.

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Future Trends Mass Media Usage
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Future Trends Internet Usage
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Future Trends Predictions of Leisure
Opportunities (Dychtwald)

• Retirement Zone stores
• Adventure travel services
• Apprenticeships
• Use of experience agents
• Mature escorts
• Mature dating
• services

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Summary Activities and Lifestyle Patterns of
Older Adults

• Individuals vary more from each other than they
  vary as they age. Change within an individual is
  gradual
• Most of adults discretionary time is spent at or
  near home
• Activities that are most essential and universal,
  and those with the lowest physical and mental
  demands, take up a larger fraction of older
  persons days

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Summary Activities and Lifestyle Patterns of
Older Adults

• Adults are increasingly selective toward
  meaningful activities as they age
• The relative order and priorities of what
  Americans consider fun has not changed from
  01-02
• Longitudinal changes mirror cross-sectional
  changes, except that women have increased paid
  work involvement as they age and younger women
  have decreased the amount of time spent in
  housework

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Summary Future Trends

• People are approaching later life better
  educated, better financially prepared, and in
  better health
• Technology will enable people to age in place
  in their homes
• Boomers are likely to remain in suburbs or
  relocate to small towns
• Boomers may have
• higher participation
• rates in sports, exercise,
• and fitness

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Effects of Air Pollution on the Health of Older
Adults AND Activities and Lifestyle Patterns of
Older Adults

• How might these activity patterns interact with
  air pollution and health effects?
• Other comments or questions?

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Activities and Lifestyle Patterns of Older Adults

• Lesa Lorenzen Huber
• Center on Aging and Aged
• Indiana University
• lehuber_at_indiana.edu

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