A Determination of Recreation Activities of Greatest Interest to Members of Senior Centers in Texas

The purpose of this study was to determine what recreational activities were of greatest interest and appeal to members of nine senior centers in Texas and according to their age and sex. The nine senior centers were randomly selected from the forty-two centers in Texas. A minimum of twenty-five members at the selected centers were asked to respond to a questionnaire concerning their recreational activity interest. A total of two hundred seventy-four respondents completed the questionnaire, of which seventy-nine were males and one hundred ninety-five were females. The questionnaire consisted of nine recreational activity categories. These categories were designed to cover a wide range of recreational interest. Table games were the activities indicated by the respondents (88 per cent) to be of greatest interest. The activity that was indicated to be of least interest was dancing (47 per cent). Activities that included social contact had the greatest interest to the respondents. A recommendation was made that senior centers should stress those activities of a social group nature. The centers should also provide more outdoor life activities