1996 Volume 4 Pages 79-92
According to the report by the welfare Ministry in 1994, the average life expectancy of the Japanese keep the highest in the world with 76.25 for males, and 82.51 for females. The increase in the life expectancy of the aged, however, is causing many social problems accompanied by the aging society, such as the increase of the bedridden, the dementia and suicides.
The present study aims at clarifying the factors of the participation in leisure activities of the aged.
A survey was made in the form of a questionnaire to 1, 170 persons above 60 years old in Akita, Yamanashi and Kochi Prefectures. The data was analyzed according to Hayashi's quantification theory II, with the quantity of leisure activity as a dependent variable, and 11 variables affecting it as independent variables.
The result proves that the following seven variables constitute the most influential factors for leisure activities of the aged with the 64.9% of the discriminant hit ratio and the 0.337 of the relative ratio:
(1) degree of the contentment in dairy life (category score range=0.64)
(2) education background (ditto=0.42)
(3) gender (ditto=0.24)
(4) physical fitness scale (ditto=0.222)
(5) practice of sports (ditto=0.22)
(6) leisure admission scale (ditto=0.21)
(7) health condition (ditto=0.21)
Money, free time in leisure activities for the aged, described in the previous study, was not so strong factor as younger people.
This study showed the necessity of the participation in various leisure activities from younger days, the maintenance of physical fitness and health and positive attitudes toward leisure activities, in order to enrich the leisure activities of the aged in future.
