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Daily Activity and Life Satisfaction in Older People Living in Rural Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Carme Triadó ,
Feliciano Villar ,
Carme Solé ,
Montserrat Celdrán  and
Maria José Osuna
Carme Triadó*
Affiliation:
Universitat de Barcelona (Spain)
Feliciano Villar
Affiliation:
Universitat de Barcelona (Spain)
Carme Solé
Affiliation:
Universitat Ramon Llull (Spain)
Montserrat Celdrán
Affiliation:
Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)
Maria José Osuna
Affiliation:
Universitat de Barcelona (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dra. Carme Triadó Tur, Departament de Psicología Evolutiva i de l'Educació, Universitat de Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron 171 08035 Barcelona (Spain). Phone: +34 93 312 5817. Fax: +34 93 402 1368. E-mail: ctriado@ub.edu
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Abstract

This study is aimed at exploring daily and desired activity patterns in a sample of older people living in a rural context, as well as at examining the effect of some influential factors and their relationships with life satisfaction. Our sample was made of 216 retired people and was recruited from 12 villages from Catalonia and Valencia with populations of less than 1000 inhabitants. Data were gathered by means of an interview that included daily and ideal activities and life satisfaction (by applying the Life Satisfaction Index). Our results show that yesterday's pattern of activities is similar to an ideal pattern, although in the ideal day, our sample allocated more time to social activities and less time to passive activities such as watching TV or resting. In both cases, leisure activities and time spent working seem to play an important role in older people's life. Gender has a remarkable influence on patterns of activity, as women devoted more time to instrumental activities and less time to leisure. In general, differences between yesterday's and ideal activities were not related to life satisfaction.

El presente estudio explora el patrón de actividades cotidianas y deseadas en una muestra de personas mayores que viven en un entorno rural, el efecto de algunos factores y sus implicaciones para la satisfacción con la vida. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 216 personas jubiladas, y fue recogida en 12 pueblos de menos de 1000 habitantes de la Comunidad Valenciana y Cataluña. Los datos se recogieron mediante entrevistas, tanto las actividades como la satisfacción con la vida (mediante el Índice de Satisfacción Vital). Los resultados muestran que el patrón de actividades realizadas en el día de ayer es similar al que se realizaría en un día ideal, aunque en éste se desearía pasar más tiempo en compañía y disminuir el tiempo en actividades pasivas. El ocio desempeña en ambos patrones (ayer e ideal) un importante papel en la vida de las personas analizadas, así como el tiempo dedicado al trabajo. El género es un condicionante de la actividad cotidiana, ya que las mujeres dedican significativamente más tiempo a actividades instrumentales, tiempo que restan a las actividades de ocio. En general, la diferencia entre el día de ayer y el día ideal no se relacionó con la satisfacción con la vida.

Keywords

aginglife satisfactiongenderrural contextenvejecimientosatisfacción vitalgéneroentornos rurales
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , May 2009 , pp. 236 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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