Increasing age was associated with more time in sleep & leisure, & less in productive activity.

Females averaged less time in leisure & more time in productive activity.

Those with lower education averaged more time sleeping & in leisure activity, & less time in productive activity & self-care.

Dawn Alley, University of Southern California

Dory Sabata, OTD, Georgia Institute of Technology

Supported by NIA grant T32AG00037 & NIDRR grant H133E020720

Research Questions: How do older adults allocate time, & how does time use vary across individuals?

What proportion of time use in self-care, productive, & leisure activities?

What are most common activities within these categories?

How does time use vary by sociodemographic characteristics?

Background:The U.S. population is aging rapidly.

60 year-olds today can expect to live another 22 years (NCHS, 2004).

Engaging in meaningful activities has been identified as important to healthy aging, but we know relatively little about how older people spend their time.

Previous research on time use among older adults has focused on comparing older & younger populations. Older adults spend

Less time in paid work (Cutler & Hendricks, 1990)

More time in self-care activities (Frederick, 1995).

However, little research has addressed variations in time use within the older population.

Regression results: Variation in time use among older adults

Data & methods: Data: 2003 American Time Use Survey

Participants aged 60+ (N=4671)Time diary data for previous dayLinked to Current Population Survey for demographic variablesAll statistics weighted to reflect U.S. community-dwelling population

Methods:

Descriptive statistics

OLS regression predicting time use based on sociodemographic covariates

Time use categories based on occupational therapy classification (McKinnon, 1992)

Self-care (e.g., grooming, using medical services, eating)Leisure (e.g., socializing, exercising, leisure-related telephone calls)Productive (e.g., housework, caring for others, working, education, volunteering)

Conclusions & Discussion: Age had a relatively small effect on time use among those 60+. Employment status accounted for the largest amount of time use variation. Gender, race/ethnicity, educational history, & marital status also had significant effects on time use.

Self-care did not increase with age, contrary to expectations. This may be due to the range of items included in the self-care category, including both necessary activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, eating) as well as elective grooming & personal activities.

Gender differences in household activities persist in old age, with older women, especially married older women, averaging more time in productive activities than men, who spent more time in leisure activities. Differences in household work account for most of this difference.

Older adults from lower educational backgrounds (less than high school) averaged more leisure time at older ages, contrary to expectations. However, more of their leisure time came from passive leisure activities.

The largest change in time use with age is a shift from productive activities (especially volunteering, paid work, & consumer behavior) to leisure activities. The types of leisure activities older adults engaged in also changed with age, with active leisure activities replaced by passive leisure.

For more information, contact Dawn Alley: alley@usc.edu

Keeping Up With Time: A National Perspective of Time Use Among Older Adults

The most common leisure activities were:

Passive leisure (television, radio): 5.6 hours

Socializing: 0.8 hours

The most common self-care activities were:

Eating: 1.4 hours

Grooming: 0.6 hours

The most common productive activities were:

Housework: 2.6 hours

Paid work: 1.2 hours

Helping non-household individuals & volunteering: 0.5 hours

Consumer behavior (shopping, obtaining non-personal services): 0.5 hours

Descriptive results: Average time use in adults aged 60 & over per day

Adults over 60 out of the paid labor force:

Consistent with previous research (Krantz-Kent, 2005), employment status was the largest predictor of time use in the older population:

Subsequent analysis was stratified by employment status.

Adults over 60 in paid employment or looking for work:

Demographic characteristics were less predictive of time use among older adults remaining in the labor force.

Age was associated with more time spent in leisure & less time spent in productive activity.

Blacks averaged more time in leisure & less time spent in productive activity.

Gender differences: Married women averaged more time in productive activities & less time in leisure activities relative to men.

Variation in activities within categories:

The composition of activities within categories varied by increasing age.

Self-care: Time eating increased significantly.

Leisure: Active leisure activities (e.g., socializing, exercising) decreased significantly, while time in passive leisure activities (e.g., watching television) increased significantly.

Limitations

Cross-sectional data.

Limited ability to distinguish types of self-care activities.

Lack of data on health status, a potentially important determinant of time use among older adults.

30%

23%10%

36%

1%

Leisure

Productive

Self-care

Sleep

Other

Time use by employment status

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Employed or looking forwork

Not working

Per

cen

t o

f d

ay

Other

Sleep

Self-care

Productive

Leisure

OLS regression coefficients predicting time use among adults 60 + out of paid workforce*

-75-60-45-30-15

01530456075

Age Female Hispanic Black Loweducation

Higheducation

Married

Min

ute

s

Sleep

Leisure

Productive

Self-care

Lighter shading indicates lack of significance.

Time use among Americans 60+ varies by age, other socio-demographic characteristics, & employment status. The largest changes with age are a shift from productive activities to leisure activities & an increase in passive leisure activities.