Social Participation, Occupational Activities and Quality of Life in Older Europeans: A Focus on the Oldest Old

Being engaged in life through participation in activities is recognized to be an important factor for quality of life. Nevertheless, physical and social con- straints related to very advanced age tend to limit the possibilities of maintaining occupational activities, especially social ones. The purpose of this study is to gather information on the contribution of different activity elements for quality of life with an emphasis on the role of age in these associations. Data from the 6th wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) was analysed in or- der to verify the frequency of productive, social, and leisure activities in different age groups (50-64, 65-79, and 80+ years old). Associations between different types of participation and quality of life were explored through a multilevel approach and considering interaction effects (age, educational level) and control variables (e.g., health, functionality and memory). The comparison across age groups revealed a global decrease in participation with advancing age. In addition, being enrolled in productive, social and leisure activities was associated with higher levels of quality of life. The introduction of the interactions between age and education with partic- ipation variables into the analysis proved that the effect of activities was different across levels of education and age groups. We believe that these findings provide important information regarding participation and occupation in old age, especially for the oldest old. Given that older people’s social engagement presents mutual ben- efits for the older person and society, creating meaningful, accessible and age-sen- sitive opportunities for being socially engaged is essential for promoting quality of life at advanced ages.