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The outdoor mobility and leisure activities of older people in five European countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2007

CRISTINA GAGLIARDI ,
LIANA SPAZZAFUMO ,
FIORELLA MARCELLINI ,
HEIDRUN MOLLENKOPF ,
ISTO RUOPPILA ,
MART TACKEN  and
ZSUZSA SZÉMANN
CRISTINA GAGLIARDI
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Riposo e Cura Anziani [National Institute of Care and Research on Ageing], Ancona, Italy.
LIANA SPAZZAFUMO
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Riposo e Cura Anziani [National Institute of Care and Research on Ageing], Ancona, Italy.
FIORELLA MARCELLINI
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Riposo e Cura Anziani [National Institute of Care and Research on Ageing], Ancona, Italy.
HEIDRUN MOLLENKOPF
Affiliation:
Deutsches Zentrum für Alternsforschung [German Centre for Research on Ageing], Berlin, Germany.
ISTO RUOPPILA
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
MART TACKEN
Affiliation:
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.
ZSUZSA SZÉMANN
Affiliation:
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
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Abstract

Many gerontological studies have dealt with the leisure activities of older people and they have generated many important theories. Although outdoor activities and mobility promote good health in old age, both decrease with increasing age as people lose physical and mental functions. This paper examines the outdoor and indoor leisure activities of 3,950 older adults and their variations by personal and environmental characteristics in Germany, Finland, Hungary, The Netherlands and Italy. The main dimensions of activity were established by factor analysis, and in all countries four factors were found: home activities, hobbies, social activities, and sports activities. Both similar and distinctive pursuits characterised each dimension among the five countries. ‘Home activities’ mainly comprised indoor activities, but the other three dimensions involved more physical mobility. The scores of various socio-environmental characteristics on the factors enabled the attributes of the participants to be profiled. Sports activities and hobbies were performed more often by younger men, by those with good physical functioning and by those who drove cars. Social activities were performed more by women and those who used public transport. Home activities were more frequently performed by those with low physical function and women.

Keywords

older peopleoutdoor mobilityindoor and outdoor leisure activitiescross-country comparison
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 27 , Issue 5 , September 2007 , pp. 683 - 700
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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