Leisure participation amongst Hong Kong Chinese older adults

Gerontologists have recognised the important influence of leisure activity on the mental and physical health of older adults. To date, however, there have been few studies of the patterns of participation in leisure activity among older adults in Hong Kong. This study examines a large representative sample of Hong Kong older adults and the associations between their socio-economic and health characteristics and their leisure activities. The data are from a cross-sectional survey of 2,180 respondents aged 60 or more years, conducted in 2000 by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. There were full records for 2,144 respondents. Among the participation rates in the seven categories of leisure activities, watching television or listening to radio was the highest, while the lowest was for playing mahjong or cards. The characteristics that significantly correlated with the level of participation differed by the activity. Although no consistent pattern emerged, gender, education, employment status, receiving welfare ben-efits, self-rated health and functional impairment were the strongest correlates for most types of leisure activity. The paper is concluded by comparing the results with previous findings, and by discussing the service implications of the findings, the limitations of the study, and directions for future research. KEY WORDS – leisure activity, Chinese older adults, participation pattern, Hong Kong. The leisure activities of older people Increasing average life expectancy coupled with low fertility has resulted in a rapidly ageing population in Hong Kong, where it is expected that the number of people aged 60 or more years will increase from 999,700 in 2001 (14.8 % of the total population) to 1,936,000 in 2021 (22.9 % of th