The Physical, Leisure and Social Activities of Very Old Australian Men Living in a Retirement Village and the Community

Abstract

This article investigates the physical, leisure and social activities reported by older Australian men, aged 75 years and over, living either in the community (n=56) or a independent living unit in a retirement village (n=57) in South-East Queensland. Compared to their community-dwelling peers, residents participated in almost twice as many leisure activities each week (3.63 vs. 2.80) and were significantly more likely to go walking (73% vs. 37%), with most walking daily (52% vs. 19%). Neither self-rated health, contact with friends, loneliness, nor participation in other leisure (e.g., reading, woodwork), social (e.g., cards) or physical (e.g., swimming, dancing, bowling) activities differed as a function of residential locality, although when the contact with friends measure included interactions with co-residents, residents reported significantly more social interactions (3.61 vs. 1.28). These findings suggest that residential locality may affect older men’s physical, mental and social wellbeing, with retirement village residents reporting greater participation in leisure, social and physical activities than their community-dwelling peers. Given the scarcity of research comparing the lifestyles of older people living in the community and retirement villages, the findings highlight the need to further investigate issues of housing, activity and wellbeing among older men, who are too often invisible in ageing research.