Gender and longitudinal changes in physical activities in later life

Abstract

Objectives: to describe gender differences in levels of, and longitudinal changes in, habitual physical activity among older people.

Design: longitudinal study.

Participants: sub-groups of survivors (with sample sizes dependent on the availability of complete datasets, ranging from 303-344) assessed on three occasions: 1985, 1989 and 1993 in Nottingham, UK. All were 65 years and over in 1985.

Methods: descriptive presentation (median and range values) of quantitative longitudinal data by gender across five activity categories assessed in a recall-based questionnaire.

Main outcome measures: participation in walking, shopping, indoor, outdoor and leisure activities.

Results: while levels of indoor and outdoor activities were marked by decline for both sexes, gender differentials were maintained over the 8 years of the study, with women showing higher levels of activity participation indoors and men showing higher levels of activity participation outdoors. In levels of walking/shopping activity, however, there was evidence of gender differentials reducing over time.

Conclusions: within these cohorts of older people traditional gender roles continue to exert a strong influence on levels and types of habitual physical activity well into later life. In some areas of activity, however, temporal changes provide some evidence of gender convergence consistent with late-life transitions in marital status and dependency.