INT’L. J. AGING AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, Vol. 31 (1) 4555.1990
LEISURE ACTIVITIES OF RETIRED PERSONS IN THE UNITED STATES: COMPARISONS WITH RETIRED PERSONS IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
FRANCES M. CARP, Ph.D. The Wright Institute
ABSTRACT
This study was undertaken in view of the large and growing numbers of retired persons in the People’s Republic of China; the dearth of information about how they spend their time; and the importance of such knowledge in guiding city reform and accomplishing the Four Modernizations and the future cause. The discretionaryactivity patterns and rates, the importance of these activities, and their perceived impact upon the health of 551 retired persons and 100 employed workers in Shanghai were compared in order t o investigate the role of retirement in China. To assess similarities and differences between retired persons in China and in the West, the activity patterns and rates of retired Chinese adults were compared with retired adults in two samples from the United States (352 from San Antonio and 899 from San Francisco).
In Western nations, two societal forces have operated to increase the amount of discretionary time as opposed to work-related time enjoyed by adults. Industrial development and automation decreased the work day and work week for persons in the labor force. At the same time, there have been rapid increases in the number of older people in the population, and the institutionalization of retirement has extended the period of post-work life for increasing numbers of older adults. The uses of the resulting discretionary or leisure time have long been a focus of research in the United States [ l ] . There is particular interest in the use of time among older persons because of projected changes in the population structure. These projections of population shifts in the United States for 1983 through 2080 were based on three sets of assumptions for each causal factor: fertility, mortality, and net immigration [2]. 45 0 1990. Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.
doi: 10.2190/T5R9-856M-G9HH-MWBQ http://baywood.com
46 1 CARP
Using the middle set of assumptions, the number of persons sixty-five years of age and older will increase from the 1982 figure of 26.8 million (1 1.6%of the total population) to approximately 33.9 million in 1995,64.6 million in 2030, and 110 million in 2080 (23.5% of the total population). The People’s Republic of China may experience an even more precipitous aging of its population. The percentage of the population sixty-five years of age and older will probably remain smaller than in the United States, but in terms of absolute numbers, the projections are dramatic. In the 1953 census, only 4.4 percent of the population was aged sixty-five or older, but this percentage included 25 million individuals; by the time of the 1982 census, the number of older persons had almost doubled to 49 million, representing 4.9 percent of the population [3] . It is projected that by the year 2000 7.9 percent of the Chinese population (94 million persons) will be sixty-five years of age or older, and that by 2040, they will represent 19.8 percent of the population and number 253 million [4]. In regard to discretionary time, retirement age is a more appropriate index than is chronological age. Retirement policies and practices differ between the People’s Republic of China and the United States. In China, the policy is for men to retire at age sixty and women at age 50. Many men retire, however, before age sixty, and age fifty is often considered the cut-off for “old age.” In the United States, although sixty-five has been considered the typical retirement age, increasing numbers of persons are taking “early retirement,” while others are working until age seventy [5] . This study compares the discretionary activities of retired people in China to those of employed persons in China and to those of retired people in the United States. In both the age and the cross-national comparisons, two major issues are addressed: 1) similaritydifference in regard to the type of activity perceived to be most important and 2) the total number of leisure activities. The study also compares employed and retired Chinese adults in regard to 1) the perceived importance of the activities in their lives as a whole and 2) the perceived impact on their health. In addition, for the retired Chinese, it assesses the roles of sex, age, education, and level of previous occupation in relation to the type of leisure activity selected as most important.
PARTICIPANTS Chinese Sample Jun-Chen Hu collected data from 651 community residents (551 retired workers and 100 employed workers) living in eleven units of six districts and one bureau of Shanghai [6] . Descriptive statistics are presented in Table 1. In regard to occupation or previous occupation, “Intellectuals” were scientists,
LEISURE ACTIVITIES I N THE U S . AND CHINA / 47
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics for Chinese Sample Descriptor
Retired (percentl
Employed (percent)
sex :
Men Women Age : 20-29 30-39 50-59 60-69 70 -
Education: Less t h a n 6 years 9 years 12 years More than 14 years Occupation : Intellectual Office Worker Worker Others N
51.7 48.3
59 .O 41.O 75.0 25.0
29.7 53.3 17.0 31.4 28.2 27.0 13.4
0 43.0 41.O 16.0
24.7 32.2 41.5 1.6
15.0 11.o 72.0 2.0
551
100
physicians, engineers, teachers; “Office Workers” were employed in whitecollar jobs at basic-level cadres of the Party and of government organizations (e.g., clerks); and ‘Workers” were in bluecollar jobs.
United States Samples Sample 1 comprised 352 community-resident applicants for elderly-adult, public housing in San Antonio, Texas, in 1959 and 1960. Their ages ranged from fifty to ninety-two, and the average age was seventy-two. Sex distribution was 21 percent male and 79 percent female. Previous occupations (or the occupations of husbands for women who never worked) were primarily (approximately 60%) whitecollar; approximately 15 percent were professionals; and approximately 25 percent were bluecollar workers. Five percent had less than four years of education; 40 percent completed elementary school (eight grades); 26 percent attended and 12 percent graduated from high school; 13 percent attended and 3 percent completed college; and 16 percent had some other posthigh-school education (e.g., vocational training) [7] .
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The second sample of 899 was a representative sample of community-resident, retired persons in San Francisco, California, in 1970 and 1971. Approximately 7 percent were under the age of fifty and 5 percent were eighty-five years of age or older; the mean age was sixty-six. Forty-two percent were males, and 58 percent were females. Previous occupations (or the occupations of husbands for women who had never worked) were mostly (approximately 82%) in the middle levels; approximately 10 percent had held professional or top-management positions, and approximately 8 percent had been unskilled laborers. Nearly all completed elementary school, and nearly half graduated from high school [8] .
COMPARISONS OF RETIRED AND EMPLOYED CHINESE Questionnaire data were obtained from retired and employed Chinese persons in written form or, for those who could not read, in personal interviews. The activities included were based on preliminary investigations into the variety of activities in which retired Chinese persons typically engage. The total number named by each respondent was recorded, and from among those named, the most important leisure activity was identified.
Types of Major Activities For the first analysis, activity categories were derived empirically from the data: 1. Reading (books, newspapers, magazines) is an intellectual activity related
to studying and thinking, and it involves the acquisition of knowledge; 2. Physical Exercise predominantly involves muscular activity (shadowboxing, freestanding exercises, running); 3. Productive activities are those that produce tangible results (knitting, sewing, other handwork); 4. Visual-Auditory activities are related to perceptual responses of the eyes and ears (watching television, listening to radio); 5. Recreational activities are those not represented in any of the first four categories (traveling, playing cards or chess, writing, cultivating flowers). This system of classification accommodated the responses of the employed respondents as well as the retired respondents. Table 2 shows the distributions of the most important activity, according to type, for retired and employed workers in China.Ns in the table indicate that this information was not forthcoming from 178 or approximately one third of the retired sample and was lacking for only 5 percent of the employed sample. For those who did respond, there were significant differences in the type of major activities between employed and retired people (chi-square = 16.98, df = 4 , p < .005). Visual-Auditory and Physical Exercise activities were more
LEISURE ACTIVITIES IN THE U.S. AND CHINA / 49
Table 2. Major Leisure Activities of Retired and Employed Persons in China Activity Type
Reading Physical Exercise Productive Visual-Auditory Recreational N
Retired (percent)
Employed (percent)
29.76 18.23 9.65 18.23 24.1 3 37 3
43.16 11.58 11.58 4.21 29.47 95
commonly selected as the most interesting by the retired people, while the activities identified as most important by the employed persons fell more commonly into one of the three other types. Reading was the most common choice for both groups. Productive activities were least selected by the retired adults, and Visual-Auditory by the employed adults. In regard to specific activities within rubrics, the most interesting and important activities among the retired persons were reading newspapers (15%), watching television (12%), shadowboxing (1 l%), reading novels (lo%), and cultivating flowers (9%). The groups differed not only in age but also in education and occupation level, both of which may have affected the type of activities considered most interesting. Age-group differences in the two variables seem divergent. No employed persons but 3 1 percent of the retired persons in the intact sample had less than six years of education, while 100 percent of the employed people and only 69 percent of the retired people completed nine or more years of school. On the other hand, two-thirds of the retired persons in the full sample had held Intellectual or Office Worker (white-collar) jobs, while nearly threequarters of the presently employed respondents were Workers (blue-collar). These occupational differences may reflect the fact that the workers under age forty may not yet have reached job levels they may attain later; they may reflecf relatively recent social reforms; and their influences on activity may counteract each other.
Number of Discretionary Activities The employed respondents were involved in a greater number of leisure activities than were the retired respondents (chi-square = 44.60, df = 10, p = .005). Most, however (84%), of the retired persons participated in one to six different activities; an additional 13 percent named seven or more; and only 1.3 percent reported involvement in no leisure activity. This analysis included the full samples of retired and employed Chinese.
50 I CARP
Importance of Discretionary Activities Respondents were asked about the importance of these activities in their lives as a whole, measured on a five-point scale. The majority of the retired participants (50%) rated them at the mid-point, as neither important nor unimportant (compared to 39 percent of the employed participants). Thirtynine percent of the retired group rated them as more important or most important, compared to 63 percent of the employed group. Only 2 percent of each group rated them more unimportant or most unimportant. The greater importance attached to the activities by employed respondents was significant (chi-square = 21 .OO, df = 4, p < .005). The relative unimportance attached to these activities by retired persons may reflect a societal, age stereotype or, as the workers reached retirement age and spent their earlier years during the years of the Four Modernizations, they may continue to attach importance to such pursuits with the result that their future cohorts will feel they are more important to life as a whole.
Perceived Influence on Health More than half (54%) of the retired persons believed that participation in these activities makes a clear or at least a little improvement in their health. This was a much higher proportion than for the employed group (32%). Overall, the difference in perceived effect on health was significant (chi-square = 16.40, df= 4 , p < .005). The results suggest city reform should make greater efforts to advocate such activities in order to improve the health of retired Chinese people.
FACTORS THAT AFFECT ACTIVITY PARTICIPATION AMONG RETIRED CHINESE PERSONS Many factors may affect the activity patterns of retired persons. Some are biological, including the person’s heredity, and have close relationships to biological functioning, and some are inherent in the individuals’ social circumstances. Two biological factors (age and sex) and two social factors (education and previous occupation level) seem of particular relevance and were included in the study.
Sex There were significant sex differences in the rubric under which the most important activity fell (chi-square = 21 .lo, df = 4, p < .005). The favorite activities of retired men were predominantly in the Reading (33.33%) and Recreational (3 1.82%) categories, while the favorite activities of retired women were distributed more evenly across activity types. Productive activities were least interesting to both groups (men, 6%;women, 14%).
LEISURE ACTIVITIES IN THE US. AND CHINA I 51
Age The sample of retired persons was divided by age: fifty to fifty-nine, sixty to sixty-nine, and seventy to seventy-nine. There were significant age trends (chisquare = 27.80, df= 8, p < .005). Reading tended to increase with age (from 28 percent of those in their fifties to 54 percent of those in their seventies). Recreational activities also increased with age (from 16 percent of those in their fifties to 27 percent of those in their seventies). Productive activities declined with age (from 16%to 3%), as did Visual-Auditory (from 26% to 1l%),Physical Exercise showed an uneven age pattern, perhaps because of chance factors and sample size (1 3 percent of those in their fifties, 22 percent of those in their sixties, and 16 percent of those in their seventies); there is no difference if only the youngest and oldest groups of the retired persons are compared. The age differences may reflect changes in people’s abilities, interests, and opportunities, or they may indicate that certain types of activity are conducive to longer life.
Education The retired respondents were divided into four groups according to their level of education: more than fourteen years, twelve years, nine years, and less than six years. There was a significant education effect (chi-square = 24.7, df= 12, p < .005). The clearest difference was in Reading (14 percent for those with less than six years of schooling but 42 percent for those with fourteen or more years). Physical Exercise was more common among the less educated (22 percent for less than six years, 12 percent for more than fourteen years of school), as was Visual-Auditory (28 percent for those with less than six years, 16 percent for those with more than fourteen years of education). Education trends in Productive and Recreational activities were not significant.
Previous Occupation Selection of favorite activity varied according to previous occupation level (chi-square = 50.60, df= 8, p = .005).Reading increased with job level (from 15 percent of Workers to 40 percent of Office Workers up to 43 percent of Intellectuals). Physical Exercise diminished as job level rose (Intellectuals, 13 percent; Office Workers, 18 percent; Workers, 21 percent, as did VisualAuditory (7%, 9%, and 13%). No occupational trends were observed for Productive and Recreational activity preference. Sex, age, education, and previous occupation level affected selection of the most important activity type in retirement. In order to assess the order of importance of the variables, C values of a series of correlation coefficients were obtained. Results were: 1) previous occupation, C = .32,2) education, C = .32, 3) sex, C = .26, and 4) age, C = 2 6 .
52 I CARP
COMPARISON OF CHINESE AND UNITED STATES RETIRED PERSONS Types of Major Activities Activities spontaneously mentioned when the United States participants were given open-ended questions about how they spent their leisure time were followed up in order to identify the most important activity. Responses were selected to fit the categories devised for the retired Chinese. Table 3 shows the results for all three groups. The specific activities under the Recreation rubric are presented in the table because they are the “left over” activities not included in the first four categories and so are somewhat heterogeneous. The overall tests of difference in types of major activity between retired Chinese participants and the American participants were not significant. As a result, within-table statistical tests of difference are not justified. The results suggest that the patterns of favorite leisure activities did not differ significantly between the retired Chinese and the United States residents who responded. There were cross-national differences between the samples’ participants in age but not in retirement status. Both American samples’ participants were older than those in the Chinese sample. All of the participants in the Chinese sample, all of the participants in United States Sample 2, and all but 4 percent of the participants in Sample 1 were retired. The overall similarity in patterns of most favorite or interesting leisure activities supports the view that retirement rather than chronological age was the determinating factor. Levels of education and of previous occupation were found to affect major-activity selection among the retired Chinese (as was true, also, for the Ainerican respondents). Table 3. Major Leisure Activities of Retired Chinese and American Persons Activity Type
Reading Physical Exercise Productive Visual-Auditory Recreational Traveling, riding Playing table games Writing Cultivating flowers, garden Total N
U.S. 1
us. 2
30% 18% 10% 18%
18% 12% 13% 20%
22% 12% 13% 24%
4% 4% 2% 9% 95% 37 3
15% 15% 2% 5% 100% 352
13% 10% 1% 5% 100% 899
Chinese
LEISURE ACTIVITIES I N THE U S . AND CHINA / 53
Cross-national comparisons of education and occupation level are questionable because of possible differences in school programs and in categorizing jobs as to level. It would seem that the retired Chinese were less well educated (nearly a third had less than six years of schooling, and illiteracy among them required personal interviews for some), but that more of the Chinese had been in higher-leveljobs-intellectuals who had worked as scientists, physicians, engineers, and teachers. Cross-national differences in education and level of previous occupation may have cancelled each other out. Sex distributions were different: in both of the United States samples the respondents were predominantly female, while there were slightly more males in the Chinese sample. The particular Productive activities (knitting, sewing, other handwork) were rarely engaged in by men in the United States, and the Chinese men showed a similar but less extreme trend. In the Chinese sample, men participated more than women in Reading and Recreational activities. Crossnational sex differences between samples may account for the somewhat greater participation of retired Chinese in Reading. United States Sample 1 comprised applicants for public housing for elderly adults who might be more active than average, but Sample 2 was representative of a metropolitan area. Selection of the most important activity did not vary significantly between participants in the American samples or between them and members of the Chinese sample who provided this information. The overall implication is that retired Chinese and American citizens have similar patterns in major uses of leisure time.
Number of Discretionary Activities There were significant differences between the intact Chinese and American samples in the total number of leisure activities (chi-square 1 = 89.10, df = 10, p < .005; chi-square 2 = 50.10, df= 10, p < .005). As Table 2 shows, all participants in both United States samples named a favorite leisure activity, while only 68 percent of the Chinese respondents did so. Three percent of the intact Chinese sample’s respondents named no leisure activity at all. Most (85%) of the Chinese mentioned one to six different activities, while numbers in this range were 3 1 percent for the American Sample 1’s and 26 percent for Sample 2’s respondents. Only 13 percent of the Chinese named seven or more activities, while 69 percent of Sample 1’s and 74 percent of Sample 2’s respondents did so. These differences may reflect, in part, the methods of data collection. All United States data were collected in personal interviews, while interviews were conducted in China only with respondents who could not read. The face-to-face situation may have elicited fuller responses. Nevertheless, the strong differences suggest that retired persons in the United States are involved in larger numbers and varieties of leisure activities.
54
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United States Responses Outside the Categories In categorizing the United States data, care was taken to adhere to the specific activities listed under each rubric and not to include others that might seem to fall under the general definition of the activity type (e.g., attendance at concerts and movies was not included under Visual-Auditory; crafts and shop work were not included in Productive; Bible reading was deleted from Reading; writing letters was not included in the writing item under Recreational). There was a difference in the items included under Physical Exercise. While, for the retired Chinese, this category included shadowboxing (1 1.0%),freestanding exercise (2 .O%), running (3 .5%), and “others” (lS.O%), walking was the primary item for the retired Americans (43.0% for Sample 1,39.0%for Sample 2). The other 1 .O percent of each American sample regularly engaged in an active sport. Activities mentioned by American respondents not fitting into any category may be of interest. Church attendance was claimed by 54 percent of Sample 1 and 56 percent of Sample 2 . The other activities seem to focus on social interaction: talking on the phone (56%and 63%),writing letters (56%and 35%), entertaining or visiting others (57% and 54%), watching the activities of other people (26% and 14%),and community activities (10% and 7%). Phone conversations depended, of course, upon access to a phone, which probably differs between countries. Methods of data collection may have influenced the report of social behaviors. One reason, however, for undertaking the study of retired Chinese persons was concern over their possible isolation and lack of opportunities for social interaction, and the need for positive, societal action to ameliorate such conditions if they exist. The activities included in the study were based on knowledge of the social environments in which retired persons live in China and on preliminary investigations into the kinds of activities in which retired Chinese persons engage. Therefore the results suggest that retired persons in the United States participate more in social or interpersonal activities than do retired persons in China. CONCLUSIONS Types of favorite leisure activities did not differ between Chinese and American retired persons. The latter, however, engaged in a large number and variety of discretionary activities. Leisure activities of retired American respondents that did not fit within the categories developed on the basis of data provided by Chinese respondents tended to involve participation with other people. Differences in data collection procedures may be the cause, or they may indicate that concern over the possible social isolation of retired persons in the People’s Republic of China is justified, and that advocacy for such activities is appropriate.
LEISURE ACTIVITIES I N T H E US. A N D CHINA / 55
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Data from the People’s Republic of China were collected and analyzed by Jun-Chen Hu, under the supervision of Professor Chi-Nan Hu. The United States data were provided and analyzed by Frances M. Carp, Ph.D. REFERENCES
1. R. W. Kleemeier, Aging and Leisure: A Research Perspective into the Meaningful Use of Time, Oxford University Press, New York, 1961. 2. United States Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-25, No. 952, Projections of the Population o f the United States by Age, Sex, and Race: 1983 to 2080, United States Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1984. 3. State Statistical Bureau, Major Figures of China’s Third Census o f Population, China Statistical Publishing House, Beijing, 1982. 4. N. Keyfitz, The Population of China, Scientific American, 250, pp. 38-47, 1984. 5. W. B. Bell and J . S. Revis, Trends and Changing Priorities in Specialized Transportation: Elements of a Policy Agenda for the Eighties, in New Developments in Transportation for the Elderly and Handicapped, Transportation Research Record 973, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., pp. 1-9, 1984. 6. J-C Hu, Hobbies of Retired People in the People’s Republic of China: A Preliminary Study, International Journal o f Aging and Human Development, 31:1, 1990. 7. F . M. Carp, A Future for the Aged, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1966. 8 . -, Environmental Effects upon the Mobility of Older People, Environment and Behavior, 12, pp. 139-1 56, 1980.
Direct reprint requests to: Frances M. Carp, PhD. The Wright Institute 2728 Durant Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704
LEISURE ACTIVITIES OF RETIRED PERSONS IN THE UNITED STATES: COMPARISONS WITH RETIRED PERSONS IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
FRANCES M. CARP, Ph.D. The Wright Institute
ABSTRACT
This study was undertaken in view of the large and growing numbers of retired persons in the People’s Republic of China; the dearth of information about how they spend their time; and the importance of such knowledge in guiding city reform and accomplishing the Four Modernizations and the future cause. The discretionaryactivity patterns and rates, the importance of these activities, and their perceived impact upon the health of 551 retired persons and 100 employed workers in Shanghai were compared in order t o investigate the role of retirement in China. To assess similarities and differences between retired persons in China and in the West, the activity patterns and rates of retired Chinese adults were compared with retired adults in two samples from the United States (352 from San Antonio and 899 from San Francisco).
In Western nations, two societal forces have operated to increase the amount of discretionary time as opposed to work-related time enjoyed by adults. Industrial development and automation decreased the work day and work week for persons in the labor force. At the same time, there have been rapid increases in the number of older people in the population, and the institutionalization of retirement has extended the period of post-work life for increasing numbers of older adults. The uses of the resulting discretionary or leisure time have long been a focus of research in the United States [ l ] . There is particular interest in the use of time among older persons because of projected changes in the population structure. These projections of population shifts in the United States for 1983 through 2080 were based on three sets of assumptions for each causal factor: fertility, mortality, and net immigration [2]. 45 0 1990. Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.
doi: 10.2190/T5R9-856M-G9HH-MWBQ http://baywood.com
46 1 CARP
Using the middle set of assumptions, the number of persons sixty-five years of age and older will increase from the 1982 figure of 26.8 million (1 1.6%of the total population) to approximately 33.9 million in 1995,64.6 million in 2030, and 110 million in 2080 (23.5% of the total population). The People’s Republic of China may experience an even more precipitous aging of its population. The percentage of the population sixty-five years of age and older will probably remain smaller than in the United States, but in terms of absolute numbers, the projections are dramatic. In the 1953 census, only 4.4 percent of the population was aged sixty-five or older, but this percentage included 25 million individuals; by the time of the 1982 census, the number of older persons had almost doubled to 49 million, representing 4.9 percent of the population [3] . It is projected that by the year 2000 7.9 percent of the Chinese population (94 million persons) will be sixty-five years of age or older, and that by 2040, they will represent 19.8 percent of the population and number 253 million [4]. In regard to discretionary time, retirement age is a more appropriate index than is chronological age. Retirement policies and practices differ between the People’s Republic of China and the United States. In China, the policy is for men to retire at age sixty and women at age 50. Many men retire, however, before age sixty, and age fifty is often considered the cut-off for “old age.” In the United States, although sixty-five has been considered the typical retirement age, increasing numbers of persons are taking “early retirement,” while others are working until age seventy [5] . This study compares the discretionary activities of retired people in China to those of employed persons in China and to those of retired people in the United States. In both the age and the cross-national comparisons, two major issues are addressed: 1) similaritydifference in regard to the type of activity perceived to be most important and 2) the total number of leisure activities. The study also compares employed and retired Chinese adults in regard to 1) the perceived importance of the activities in their lives as a whole and 2) the perceived impact on their health. In addition, for the retired Chinese, it assesses the roles of sex, age, education, and level of previous occupation in relation to the type of leisure activity selected as most important.
PARTICIPANTS Chinese Sample Jun-Chen Hu collected data from 651 community residents (551 retired workers and 100 employed workers) living in eleven units of six districts and one bureau of Shanghai [6] . Descriptive statistics are presented in Table 1. In regard to occupation or previous occupation, “Intellectuals” were scientists,
LEISURE ACTIVITIES I N THE U S . AND CHINA / 47
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics for Chinese Sample Descriptor
Retired (percentl
Employed (percent)
sex :
Men Women Age : 20-29 30-39 50-59 60-69 70 -
Education: Less t h a n 6 years 9 years 12 years More than 14 years Occupation : Intellectual Office Worker Worker Others N
51.7 48.3
59 .O 41.O 75.0 25.0
29.7 53.3 17.0 31.4 28.2 27.0 13.4
0 43.0 41.O 16.0
24.7 32.2 41.5 1.6
15.0 11.o 72.0 2.0
551
100
physicians, engineers, teachers; “Office Workers” were employed in whitecollar jobs at basic-level cadres of the Party and of government organizations (e.g., clerks); and ‘Workers” were in bluecollar jobs.
United States Samples Sample 1 comprised 352 community-resident applicants for elderly-adult, public housing in San Antonio, Texas, in 1959 and 1960. Their ages ranged from fifty to ninety-two, and the average age was seventy-two. Sex distribution was 21 percent male and 79 percent female. Previous occupations (or the occupations of husbands for women who never worked) were primarily (approximately 60%) whitecollar; approximately 15 percent were professionals; and approximately 25 percent were bluecollar workers. Five percent had less than four years of education; 40 percent completed elementary school (eight grades); 26 percent attended and 12 percent graduated from high school; 13 percent attended and 3 percent completed college; and 16 percent had some other posthigh-school education (e.g., vocational training) [7] .
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The second sample of 899 was a representative sample of community-resident, retired persons in San Francisco, California, in 1970 and 1971. Approximately 7 percent were under the age of fifty and 5 percent were eighty-five years of age or older; the mean age was sixty-six. Forty-two percent were males, and 58 percent were females. Previous occupations (or the occupations of husbands for women who had never worked) were mostly (approximately 82%) in the middle levels; approximately 10 percent had held professional or top-management positions, and approximately 8 percent had been unskilled laborers. Nearly all completed elementary school, and nearly half graduated from high school [8] .
COMPARISONS OF RETIRED AND EMPLOYED CHINESE Questionnaire data were obtained from retired and employed Chinese persons in written form or, for those who could not read, in personal interviews. The activities included were based on preliminary investigations into the variety of activities in which retired Chinese persons typically engage. The total number named by each respondent was recorded, and from among those named, the most important leisure activity was identified.
Types of Major Activities For the first analysis, activity categories were derived empirically from the data: 1. Reading (books, newspapers, magazines) is an intellectual activity related
to studying and thinking, and it involves the acquisition of knowledge; 2. Physical Exercise predominantly involves muscular activity (shadowboxing, freestanding exercises, running); 3. Productive activities are those that produce tangible results (knitting, sewing, other handwork); 4. Visual-Auditory activities are related to perceptual responses of the eyes and ears (watching television, listening to radio); 5. Recreational activities are those not represented in any of the first four categories (traveling, playing cards or chess, writing, cultivating flowers). This system of classification accommodated the responses of the employed respondents as well as the retired respondents. Table 2 shows the distributions of the most important activity, according to type, for retired and employed workers in China.Ns in the table indicate that this information was not forthcoming from 178 or approximately one third of the retired sample and was lacking for only 5 percent of the employed sample. For those who did respond, there were significant differences in the type of major activities between employed and retired people (chi-square = 16.98, df = 4 , p < .005). Visual-Auditory and Physical Exercise activities were more
LEISURE ACTIVITIES IN THE U.S. AND CHINA / 49
Table 2. Major Leisure Activities of Retired and Employed Persons in China Activity Type
Reading Physical Exercise Productive Visual-Auditory Recreational N
Retired (percent)
Employed (percent)
29.76 18.23 9.65 18.23 24.1 3 37 3
43.16 11.58 11.58 4.21 29.47 95
commonly selected as the most interesting by the retired people, while the activities identified as most important by the employed persons fell more commonly into one of the three other types. Reading was the most common choice for both groups. Productive activities were least selected by the retired adults, and Visual-Auditory by the employed adults. In regard to specific activities within rubrics, the most interesting and important activities among the retired persons were reading newspapers (15%), watching television (12%), shadowboxing (1 l%), reading novels (lo%), and cultivating flowers (9%). The groups differed not only in age but also in education and occupation level, both of which may have affected the type of activities considered most interesting. Age-group differences in the two variables seem divergent. No employed persons but 3 1 percent of the retired persons in the intact sample had less than six years of education, while 100 percent of the employed people and only 69 percent of the retired people completed nine or more years of school. On the other hand, two-thirds of the retired persons in the full sample had held Intellectual or Office Worker (white-collar) jobs, while nearly threequarters of the presently employed respondents were Workers (blue-collar). These occupational differences may reflect the fact that the workers under age forty may not yet have reached job levels they may attain later; they may reflecf relatively recent social reforms; and their influences on activity may counteract each other.
Number of Discretionary Activities The employed respondents were involved in a greater number of leisure activities than were the retired respondents (chi-square = 44.60, df = 10, p = .005). Most, however (84%), of the retired persons participated in one to six different activities; an additional 13 percent named seven or more; and only 1.3 percent reported involvement in no leisure activity. This analysis included the full samples of retired and employed Chinese.
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Importance of Discretionary Activities Respondents were asked about the importance of these activities in their lives as a whole, measured on a five-point scale. The majority of the retired participants (50%) rated them at the mid-point, as neither important nor unimportant (compared to 39 percent of the employed participants). Thirtynine percent of the retired group rated them as more important or most important, compared to 63 percent of the employed group. Only 2 percent of each group rated them more unimportant or most unimportant. The greater importance attached to the activities by employed respondents was significant (chi-square = 21 .OO, df = 4, p < .005). The relative unimportance attached to these activities by retired persons may reflect a societal, age stereotype or, as the workers reached retirement age and spent their earlier years during the years of the Four Modernizations, they may continue to attach importance to such pursuits with the result that their future cohorts will feel they are more important to life as a whole.
Perceived Influence on Health More than half (54%) of the retired persons believed that participation in these activities makes a clear or at least a little improvement in their health. This was a much higher proportion than for the employed group (32%). Overall, the difference in perceived effect on health was significant (chi-square = 16.40, df= 4 , p < .005). The results suggest city reform should make greater efforts to advocate such activities in order to improve the health of retired Chinese people.
FACTORS THAT AFFECT ACTIVITY PARTICIPATION AMONG RETIRED CHINESE PERSONS Many factors may affect the activity patterns of retired persons. Some are biological, including the person’s heredity, and have close relationships to biological functioning, and some are inherent in the individuals’ social circumstances. Two biological factors (age and sex) and two social factors (education and previous occupation level) seem of particular relevance and were included in the study.
Sex There were significant sex differences in the rubric under which the most important activity fell (chi-square = 21 .lo, df = 4, p < .005). The favorite activities of retired men were predominantly in the Reading (33.33%) and Recreational (3 1.82%) categories, while the favorite activities of retired women were distributed more evenly across activity types. Productive activities were least interesting to both groups (men, 6%;women, 14%).
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Age The sample of retired persons was divided by age: fifty to fifty-nine, sixty to sixty-nine, and seventy to seventy-nine. There were significant age trends (chisquare = 27.80, df= 8, p < .005). Reading tended to increase with age (from 28 percent of those in their fifties to 54 percent of those in their seventies). Recreational activities also increased with age (from 16 percent of those in their fifties to 27 percent of those in their seventies). Productive activities declined with age (from 16%to 3%), as did Visual-Auditory (from 26% to 1l%),Physical Exercise showed an uneven age pattern, perhaps because of chance factors and sample size (1 3 percent of those in their fifties, 22 percent of those in their sixties, and 16 percent of those in their seventies); there is no difference if only the youngest and oldest groups of the retired persons are compared. The age differences may reflect changes in people’s abilities, interests, and opportunities, or they may indicate that certain types of activity are conducive to longer life.
Education The retired respondents were divided into four groups according to their level of education: more than fourteen years, twelve years, nine years, and less than six years. There was a significant education effect (chi-square = 24.7, df= 12, p < .005). The clearest difference was in Reading (14 percent for those with less than six years of schooling but 42 percent for those with fourteen or more years). Physical Exercise was more common among the less educated (22 percent for less than six years, 12 percent for more than fourteen years of school), as was Visual-Auditory (28 percent for those with less than six years, 16 percent for those with more than fourteen years of education). Education trends in Productive and Recreational activities were not significant.
Previous Occupation Selection of favorite activity varied according to previous occupation level (chi-square = 50.60, df= 8, p = .005).Reading increased with job level (from 15 percent of Workers to 40 percent of Office Workers up to 43 percent of Intellectuals). Physical Exercise diminished as job level rose (Intellectuals, 13 percent; Office Workers, 18 percent; Workers, 21 percent, as did VisualAuditory (7%, 9%, and 13%). No occupational trends were observed for Productive and Recreational activity preference. Sex, age, education, and previous occupation level affected selection of the most important activity type in retirement. In order to assess the order of importance of the variables, C values of a series of correlation coefficients were obtained. Results were: 1) previous occupation, C = .32,2) education, C = .32, 3) sex, C = .26, and 4) age, C = 2 6 .
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COMPARISON OF CHINESE AND UNITED STATES RETIRED PERSONS Types of Major Activities Activities spontaneously mentioned when the United States participants were given open-ended questions about how they spent their leisure time were followed up in order to identify the most important activity. Responses were selected to fit the categories devised for the retired Chinese. Table 3 shows the results for all three groups. The specific activities under the Recreation rubric are presented in the table because they are the “left over” activities not included in the first four categories and so are somewhat heterogeneous. The overall tests of difference in types of major activity between retired Chinese participants and the American participants were not significant. As a result, within-table statistical tests of difference are not justified. The results suggest that the patterns of favorite leisure activities did not differ significantly between the retired Chinese and the United States residents who responded. There were cross-national differences between the samples’ participants in age but not in retirement status. Both American samples’ participants were older than those in the Chinese sample. All of the participants in the Chinese sample, all of the participants in United States Sample 2, and all but 4 percent of the participants in Sample 1 were retired. The overall similarity in patterns of most favorite or interesting leisure activities supports the view that retirement rather than chronological age was the determinating factor. Levels of education and of previous occupation were found to affect major-activity selection among the retired Chinese (as was true, also, for the Ainerican respondents). Table 3. Major Leisure Activities of Retired Chinese and American Persons Activity Type
Reading Physical Exercise Productive Visual-Auditory Recreational Traveling, riding Playing table games Writing Cultivating flowers, garden Total N
U.S. 1
us. 2
30% 18% 10% 18%
18% 12% 13% 20%
22% 12% 13% 24%
4% 4% 2% 9% 95% 37 3
15% 15% 2% 5% 100% 352
13% 10% 1% 5% 100% 899
Chinese
LEISURE ACTIVITIES I N THE U S . AND CHINA / 53
Cross-national comparisons of education and occupation level are questionable because of possible differences in school programs and in categorizing jobs as to level. It would seem that the retired Chinese were less well educated (nearly a third had less than six years of schooling, and illiteracy among them required personal interviews for some), but that more of the Chinese had been in higher-leveljobs-intellectuals who had worked as scientists, physicians, engineers, and teachers. Cross-national differences in education and level of previous occupation may have cancelled each other out. Sex distributions were different: in both of the United States samples the respondents were predominantly female, while there were slightly more males in the Chinese sample. The particular Productive activities (knitting, sewing, other handwork) were rarely engaged in by men in the United States, and the Chinese men showed a similar but less extreme trend. In the Chinese sample, men participated more than women in Reading and Recreational activities. Crossnational sex differences between samples may account for the somewhat greater participation of retired Chinese in Reading. United States Sample 1 comprised applicants for public housing for elderly adults who might be more active than average, but Sample 2 was representative of a metropolitan area. Selection of the most important activity did not vary significantly between participants in the American samples or between them and members of the Chinese sample who provided this information. The overall implication is that retired Chinese and American citizens have similar patterns in major uses of leisure time.
Number of Discretionary Activities There were significant differences between the intact Chinese and American samples in the total number of leisure activities (chi-square 1 = 89.10, df = 10, p < .005; chi-square 2 = 50.10, df= 10, p < .005). As Table 2 shows, all participants in both United States samples named a favorite leisure activity, while only 68 percent of the Chinese respondents did so. Three percent of the intact Chinese sample’s respondents named no leisure activity at all. Most (85%) of the Chinese mentioned one to six different activities, while numbers in this range were 3 1 percent for the American Sample 1’s and 26 percent for Sample 2’s respondents. Only 13 percent of the Chinese named seven or more activities, while 69 percent of Sample 1’s and 74 percent of Sample 2’s respondents did so. These differences may reflect, in part, the methods of data collection. All United States data were collected in personal interviews, while interviews were conducted in China only with respondents who could not read. The face-to-face situation may have elicited fuller responses. Nevertheless, the strong differences suggest that retired persons in the United States are involved in larger numbers and varieties of leisure activities.
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United States Responses Outside the Categories In categorizing the United States data, care was taken to adhere to the specific activities listed under each rubric and not to include others that might seem to fall under the general definition of the activity type (e.g., attendance at concerts and movies was not included under Visual-Auditory; crafts and shop work were not included in Productive; Bible reading was deleted from Reading; writing letters was not included in the writing item under Recreational). There was a difference in the items included under Physical Exercise. While, for the retired Chinese, this category included shadowboxing (1 1.0%),freestanding exercise (2 .O%), running (3 .5%), and “others” (lS.O%), walking was the primary item for the retired Americans (43.0% for Sample 1,39.0%for Sample 2). The other 1 .O percent of each American sample regularly engaged in an active sport. Activities mentioned by American respondents not fitting into any category may be of interest. Church attendance was claimed by 54 percent of Sample 1 and 56 percent of Sample 2 . The other activities seem to focus on social interaction: talking on the phone (56%and 63%),writing letters (56%and 35%), entertaining or visiting others (57% and 54%), watching the activities of other people (26% and 14%),and community activities (10% and 7%). Phone conversations depended, of course, upon access to a phone, which probably differs between countries. Methods of data collection may have influenced the report of social behaviors. One reason, however, for undertaking the study of retired Chinese persons was concern over their possible isolation and lack of opportunities for social interaction, and the need for positive, societal action to ameliorate such conditions if they exist. The activities included in the study were based on knowledge of the social environments in which retired persons live in China and on preliminary investigations into the kinds of activities in which retired Chinese persons engage. Therefore the results suggest that retired persons in the United States participate more in social or interpersonal activities than do retired persons in China. CONCLUSIONS Types of favorite leisure activities did not differ between Chinese and American retired persons. The latter, however, engaged in a large number and variety of discretionary activities. Leisure activities of retired American respondents that did not fit within the categories developed on the basis of data provided by Chinese respondents tended to involve participation with other people. Differences in data collection procedures may be the cause, or they may indicate that concern over the possible social isolation of retired persons in the People’s Republic of China is justified, and that advocacy for such activities is appropriate.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Data from the People’s Republic of China were collected and analyzed by Jun-Chen Hu, under the supervision of Professor Chi-Nan Hu. The United States data were provided and analyzed by Frances M. Carp, Ph.D. REFERENCES
1. R. W. Kleemeier, Aging and Leisure: A Research Perspective into the Meaningful Use of Time, Oxford University Press, New York, 1961. 2. United States Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-25, No. 952, Projections of the Population o f the United States by Age, Sex, and Race: 1983 to 2080, United States Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1984. 3. State Statistical Bureau, Major Figures of China’s Third Census o f Population, China Statistical Publishing House, Beijing, 1982. 4. N. Keyfitz, The Population of China, Scientific American, 250, pp. 38-47, 1984. 5. W. B. Bell and J . S. Revis, Trends and Changing Priorities in Specialized Transportation: Elements of a Policy Agenda for the Eighties, in New Developments in Transportation for the Elderly and Handicapped, Transportation Research Record 973, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., pp. 1-9, 1984. 6. J-C Hu, Hobbies of Retired People in the People’s Republic of China: A Preliminary Study, International Journal o f Aging and Human Development, 31:1, 1990. 7. F . M. Carp, A Future for the Aged, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1966. 8 . -, Environmental Effects upon the Mobility of Older People, Environment and Behavior, 12, pp. 139-1 56, 1980.
Direct reprint requests to: Frances M. Carp, PhD. The Wright Institute 2728 Durant Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704
