Objective and Subjective Uses of Time by Older People

The time allocations of 525 older people from two independent community-resident and two types of service-agency populations were studied. The strongest determinant of time allocation, beyond basic demographic characteristics, was functional health, which was better among people spending time in most obligatory activities, both alone and outside the home. Cognitive competence was associated with media use, being alone, less rest, time with family, and time in the home. More time was spent in most-liked discretionary, but not obligatory activities. Specifically, the more time one spent interacting with friends, with household family, reading, watching television, engaging in recreation, and being in the yard, the more each of these activities was liked. While there was a strong relationship between degree of liking for most activities and personal adjustment, the actual distribution of time among the activities was quite independent of personal adjustment, with the exception of time alone, which showed a slight negative association with personal adjustment.