Portrait of Seniors in Canada: Chapter 5. Leisure and outlook on life

As stated in the Introduction, some aspects of seniors' lives were more difficult than others to incorporate within the National Framework on Aging. These dimensions are discussed in this chapter. First, Section 5.1 presents detailed information about seniors' use of time. It focuses on leisure activities that seniors enjoy compared to younger persons.

Section 5.2 is a short analysis of seniors' religiosity. Information is presented about the importance of spiritual beliefs to seniors, their attendance at religious services and the faith communities to which they belong.

Finally, section 5.3 provides information on seniors' use of computer and information technologies. Are seniors connected? For what purposes do older Canadians use their computers and the Internet?

5.1 Leisure and outlook on life¹

As older adults move through later life they modify their patterns of time use. They may begin to disengage from some activities, engage more intensely in others, or try new activities. Time use patterns of older adults across the later life course are presented in this section.

Hours of paid work decline after age 55

As Canadians move into retirement, the demands on their days change (see Charts 5.1.1 and 5.1.2). The majority of men and women begin to disengage from paid work in their early fifties. For example, men's hours of paid work decreased after age 55 from an average of 4 hours per day for those aged 55 to 64 to 1 hour for those aged 65 to 74.

Chart 5.1.1 What do Canadian men do?

Chart 5.1.2 What do Canadian women do?

Family and household responsibilities consumed a large number of hours each day. On average, men aged 55 to 64 years reported 3.1 hours a day doing unpaid work² and women from the same age group reported 4.8 hours. As time spent on paid work declined for men aged 65 to 74 the amount of time spent on unpaid work increased to 3.9 hours per day while the amount of time women spent on these tasks remained the same.

Older age provides time for engagement in other activities like rest and leisure

Everyone's day is made up of exactly 24 hours, which means that each person has a finite amount of time to spend sleeping, eating, earning a living, taking care of others, home responsibilities and leisure activities. Exploring the trade-offs among these activities allows us to better understand patterns of time use.

Reduction in paid work allows people to allocate their time to a variety of different activities. Men devoted more time to personal care such as resting and sleep (an increase from 8.2 hours for men aged 55 to 64 years per night to 9.0 hours for those over age 75). They increased time in leisure activities (1.2 more hours a day of TV watching, more than twice as much time spent reading - over an hour per day). They spent extra time on domestic chores, house maintenance, and shopping (see Chart 5.1.3).

Chart 5.1.3 A day in the life of older Canadian men

Women's time use patterns changed as well after age 55 (see Chart 5.1.4). Like men, women spent more time on personal care, especially sleeping or resting (an increase from 8.5 hours per day for the 55 to 64 year olds to 9.2 hours for those over age 75). They also increased the amount of time on leisure pursuits (an increase of 1.2 hours a day in TV watching and 0.5 hours more a day reading).

Chart 5.1.4 A day in the life of older Canadian women

Leisure is more than just watching television

Leisure makes up an important part of older Canadians' lives both in terms of the amount of time they spend and how engagement in these activities can contribute to their well-being. Canadian men aged 65 to 74 spent almost 8 hours a day in leisure (see Chart 5.1.5) and women spent an average of 7.3 hours (see Chart 5.1.6). This represents an increase of 1.3 hours compared to men and women aged 55 to 64.

Chart 5.1.5 Average time spent on leisure by Canadian men

Chart 5.1.6 Average time spent on leisure by Canadian women

There are four types of leisure activity: passive leisure, cognitive leisure, social leisure, and physical leisure. Passive leisure consists of such activities as watching television, listening to the radio, and taking pleasure drives. Cognitive leisure is made up of reading books or newspapers, educational activities, attending entertainment events, participating in hobbies, playing cards, and using the computer or the Internet. Social leisure includes socializing with friends and relatives and talking on the phone. Finally, physical leisure includes all physical recreation. Cognitive leisure, social leisure, and physical leisure can be combined to form active leisure in comparison to the passive leisure activities.

Active leisure time increases in later life

Men and women who were post retirement age engaged more in active leisure and passive leisure activities than their younger cohorts (see Charts 5.1.5 and 5.1.6). In fact, men 75 years or older spent over an hour more on passive leisure than their counterparts aged 55 to 64 years. Despite this increase in passive leisure, men still spent more time in active leisure than in passive leisure until after age 75. For women, active leisure predominated even for those over age 75. This oldest group of women reported more hours spent in active leisure than in passive pursuits (4.4 hours a day of active leisure compared to 3.6 hours of passive leisure). Throughout later life women devoted fewer hours to leisure than did men, but the primary difference was in the time spent on passive leisure activities which was about half an hour less per day for women across each of the age groups.

Activity categories

Paid work

Unpaid work

Domestic work

Care work

Volunteer work

Leisure

Passive leisure

Cognitively active leisure

Physically active leisure

Socially active leisure

Self care

5.2 Religiosity

Canadian seniors grew up at a time when the institutionalized religion had more social influence than today. Not surprisingly then, religion plays a more important role in the life of a greater proportion of seniors than of younger individuals.

Between 1990 and 2003, the proportion reporting no religious affiliation has almost doubled regardless of age group. However seniors are much less likely to have no religion than younger people. In 2003, 10% of seniors aged 65 and over had no religion, half the proportion of 25 to 54 year olds (21%). The next generation of seniors, i.e. those who are currently aged 55 to 64, were also less likely than individuals aged 25 to 54 to report that they don't have a religion (Chart 5.2.1).

Chart 5.2.1 Percentage of persons reporting no religious affiliation, by age group, 1990 and 2003

The percentage of seniors reporting no religious affiliation varied substantially across Canada. Only 2% of Québec seniors and 5% of Atlantic seniors reported no religion. In contrast, 10% of seniors in Ontario, 9% in the Prairies and 26% in British Columbia reported having no religion. This is consistent with a recent study which showed that British Columbians had the lowest level of religiosity in the country (Clark and Schellenberg, 2006).

Spiritual beliefs and their importance

While institutionalized religion may have lost social influence in the last forty to fifty years, studies show that spiritual beliefs plays an important role in the life of many Canadians (Clark and Schellenberg, 2006; Bibby, 2002). However, seniors are still much more likely than younger people to attribute a great importance to spiritual beliefs in the way that they live their life. For instance in 2003, about 59% of seniors aged 75 and over reported that spiritual beliefs were very important in the way that they lived their life. In contrast, that was the case of only 35% of 25 to 54 year olds (Chart 5.2.2).

Chart 5.2.2 Percentage of individuals reporting that spiritual beliefs have an important role in their life, by age group, 2003

According to data from the 2001 Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey, many Canadians agree that their spiritual beliefs help them to find meaning in their life, give them strength to face everyday difficulties or help them a lot to understand the difficulties of life. Seniors are, however, more likely to say that their spiritual beliefs help them. For instance in 2001, 47% of seniors aged 75 and over said that their spiritual beliefs help them to understand the difficulties in their life a lot, and 50% of them said that their beliefs helped them a lot to find meaning in their life. The corresponding proportions for 25 to 54 year olds were significantly lower, at 27% and 31% (Table 5.2.1).

Table 5.2.1 Importance of spirituality in seniors' lives

Attendance at religious services

Attendance at religious services is much more frequent among seniors than among their younger counterparts. In 2003, about half of seniors reported that they attended religious services at least once a month. That was the case of only 27% of 25 to 54 year olds.

Chart 5.2.3 Frequency of attendance at religious services, by age group, 2003

5.3 Computer and Internet use

Many aspects of life have been affected by the widespread diffusion of information and communications technologies (ICTs). For example, workers in a diverse range of jobs now routinely use computers; individuals keep in touch with family and friends using email and on-line chat sites; and products, services, information and entertainment are readily available from the Internet. Overall, Canadians are increasingly connected through the Internet, email and a host of other ICTs. In this section, the 'connectedness' of older Canadians is documented.

Use of the Internet and emails

Computer use has become part of everyday life for many Canadians. Between 1990 and 2003, the share of households with a personal computer increased from 16% to 67%. Internet penetration followed suite, with the share of households accessing the Internet from home more than tripling between 1997 and 2003, rising from 16.0% to 54.5%. The share of senior-led households with home Internet access increased from 3.4% to 22.7% and access among households headed by someone aged 55 to 64 increased more than four-fold (Chart 5.3.1).

Chart 5.3.1 Percentage of households accessing the Internet from home, by age of household head, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003

The same trend is evident if we consider individuals rather than households. The share of individuals aged 65 to 74 using the Internet increased from 11% to 28% between 2000 and 2003, and the share using email increased from 11% to 27% (Chart 5.3.2). The same upward trend was evident among seniors aged 75 or older, albeit at a lower level. Overall, Internet and email use is becoming increasingly prevalent among seniors, but utilization remains highest among younger age groups.

Chart 5.3.2 Percentage of individuals who used the Internet or email in past 12 months, by age group, 2000 and 2003

Among persons aged 25 to 54, comparable shares of men and women use the Internet and email (Chart 5.3.3). In contrast, there are noticeable gender differences among older Canadians. In 2003, about one-third of men aged 65 to 74 used the Internet or email compared with less than one-quarter of women. Men aged 75 or older were more than twice as likely as women to use these technologies.

Chart 5.3.3 Percentage of individuals who used the Internet or email in past 12 months, by sex and age group, 2003

Education is also correlated with 'connectedness'. Among seniors aged 65 to 74, individuals with a post-secondary educational credential were more than twice as likely as those with no such credential to use the Internet (at 45.5% and 20.6% respectively). The same pattern is evident among seniors aged 75 or older (Chart 5.3.4). Furthermore, educational attainment is more strongly correlated with Internet and email use among seniors than among non-seniors.³

Chart 5.3.4 Percentage of individuals who used the Internet or email in past 12 months, by education and age group, 2003

Detailed information on computer and Internet use is available from the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL), but is only available for individuals aged 16 to 65. Hence, our discussion now focuses on individuals aged 56 to 65.

Accessing the Internet is the most prevalent purpose for which computers are used. In a typical month, 78.5% of computer users aged 56 to 65 use their computer for this purpose, while this is the case for over 90% of computer users aged 45 or younger (Chart 5.3.5). Just under two-thirds of computer users aged 56 to 65 (62.4%) use their computer for writing or editing text while 40% to 45% use it for playing games or reading information on CD or DVD.

Chart 5.3.5 Selected purposes of computer use, by age group, 2003

When considering the amount of time spent on their home computer, the profile of computer users aged 56 to 65 is very similar that of 'middle aged' users. Almost half of computer users aged 56 to 65 (48.1%) use their home computer less than 10 hours in a typical month and in this respect may be considered 'casual users'. Among computer users between the ages for 36 and 55, a comparable share uses their home computer less than 10 hours a month.

In contrast, 26.0% of computer users aged 56 to 65 spend 30 or more hours on their home computer in a typical month and may be considered 'heavy users'. The share of individuals aged 36 to 45 and 46 to 55 who are 'heavy users' was slightly smaller, at 22.6% and 20.6% respectively (Chart 5.3.6). Individuals aged 56 or older may be retired and have more time to spend on their home computer.

Chart 5.3.6 Percentage of computer users who spend 30 or more hours on their home computer in a typical month, by age group, 2003

Individuals in their late fifties and early sixties use the Internet for many of the same purposes as individuals in younger age groups. For example, at least 85% of Internet users in all age groups use the Internet for email (Chart 5.3.7). Similarly, individuals aged 56 to 65 who use the Internet are as likely as younger users to search for health or government information. In contrast, Internet users aged 56 to 65 are less likely than their younger counterparts to use the Internet to do their banking, to purchase goods or services, to download music or to participate in chat groups or on-line discussions.

Chart 5.3.7 Selected purposes of Internet use, by age group, 2003

Computer users aged 56 to 65 have positive assessments of new technologies. Over three-quarters of them say that computers have made it easier for them to find useful information and almost two-thirds say that computer have helped them communicate with other people (Chart 5.3.8). However, they have less favorable assessments of the impact that computers have had on their skill development, as less than half of computer users aged 56 to 65 (45.2%) agree that computers have helped them learn new skills (aside from computer skills themselves). Computer users aged 45 or younger are far more likely to agree with this statement.

In terms of their current abilities, about one-third of computer users aged 56 to 65 (31.8%) say they feel comfortable installing or upgrading software compared with almost 60% of users aged 26 to 35. Nonetheless, the majority of older users (73%) feel that their computer skills meet their current needs.

Chart 5.3.8 Attitudes toward computers, by age group, 2003

Chapter 5. Leisure and outlook on life

Introduction

5.1 Leisure and outlook on life1