Leisure Participation and the Retirement Process

Abstract

Abstract The influence of pre-retirement leisure activity patterns on retirement planning and attitudes toward retirement was investigated. Sixty male retirees answered a questionnaire designed to collect data regarding sociodemographic variables, the degree of pre-retirement planning, the type and extent of leisure participation before and after retirement, and attitudes about retirement. The results show that a high degree of pre-retirement leisure participation correlates with a high degree of pre-retirement planning. No statistically significant relationships were demonstrated between pre-retirement planning and retirement attitudes or between pre-retirement leisure participation and retirement attitudes. The influence of specific types of activities on the retirement process was also examined and results are presented. . . . For us, in occupational therapy, the most fundamental area of research is, and probably always will be, the nature and meaning of activity.(Mary Reilly, 1, p 208)