Abstract
Objectives: Retirement is a major life transition in the second half of life, and it can be associated with changes in leisure activity engagement. Although theories of retirement adjustment have emphasized the need to find meaningful activities in retirement, little is known about the nature of changes in leisure activity during the retirement transition and their association with mental health.Methods: Based on four annual waves of the ‘Health, Aging and Retirement Transitions in Sweden’ study, we investigated the longitudinal association of leisure activity engagement and depressive symptoms using bivariate dual change score models. We distinguished intellectual, social, and physical activity engagement.Results: We found increases in all three domains of activity engagement after retirement. Although level and change of activity and depressive symptoms were negatively associated, the coupling parameters were not significant, thus the direction of effects remains unclear.Conclusion: The results highlight the need to consider the role of lifestyle changes for retirement adjustment and mental health.
Highlights
An active lifestyle is often seen as a key factor for successful aging (Rowe & Kahn, 1997)
Leisure activity is associated with various health outcomes, we still know little about changes in leisure activity across significant life events such as the retirement transition, and how such changes in activity are related to mental health and adjustment
Leisure activity is believed to be a major source of wellbeing and mental health in retirement (Atchley, 1971; Kuykendall et al, 2015), but the growing literature on retirement adjustment has often neglected the role of leisure activity engagement in the adjustment process
Summary
An active lifestyle is often seen as a key factor for successful aging (Rowe & Kahn, 1997). In older age, leisure activity engagement is a central part of an active lifestyle. We apply a broad and inclusive, so-called residual (Kuykendall, Boemerman, & Zhu, 2018; Roberts, 1999) or structural (Kuykendall, Tay, & Ng, 2015) definition of leisure activities as non-work related and non-obligatory activities that people engage in during their free time. Leisure activity engagement is associated with higher well-being and better mental health (Lampinen, Heikkinen, Kauppinen, & Heikkinen, 2006; Silverstein & Parker, 2002), as well as with better physical and cognitive health (Bielak, Gerstorf, Anstey, & Luszcz, 2014; Chang, Wray, Lin, 2014; Ko€hncke et al, 2016; Lee, Chi, & Palinkas, 2019). Leisure activity is associated with various health outcomes, we still know little about changes in leisure activity across significant life events such as the retirement transition, and how such changes in activity are related to mental health and adjustment
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