Activity and psychological well-being in older people

Abstract

Affective well-being and life satisfaction between the ages of 50 and 74 were investigated as a function of the frequency with which individuals undertook six types of activity, after control for potential confounding variables. Overall activity level (across all types) was significantly positively associated with both outcome variables. Activities in the Family and Social and in the Church and Charity domains were found to be important in this age-range, but other types of activity were less consistently associated with affective well-being or life satisfaction. Differences were observed in the frequency of some activity types between men and women and between people in employment, unemployment and retirement. However, associations between activity and psychological well-being did not vary between men and women, and differences in correlations with well-being between non-employed and employed individuals were significant only for aggregate indicators.