Leisure Activities and the Oldest Old’s Health

This chapter concentrates on exploring the associations between Chinese oldest old’s health and their leisure activity patterns. The results show period and cohort variations in Chinese oldest old’s leisure activity patterns during the studied 20-year span. Descriptive results demonstrate that the percentage of the oldest old who engaged in at least one leisure activity daily has been declining over time. This can be explained by the fact the respondents were getting older over time and they became less active in leisure activities as compared to previous years. This research finds that the younger birth cohorts are more active in participating in leisure activities. Moreover, the health disparities predicted by the oldest old’s leisure activity patterns vary by period and cohort. Over time, when using the leisure activity variable to predict the oldest old’s health status, the predicted SRH shows a declining trend, whereas the cognitive function is getting better over time. A rising trend is observed in the predicted number of chronic diseases. And a V-shape is observed in positive feeling scores due to negative social and economic events in year 2008. The health disparities between the sedentary and more active groups in leisure activities shown in this study have again underlined the importance of participating in leisure activities in maintaining older adults’ healthy status.