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Abstract
Social gerontologists have become increasingly interested in the activity and leisure patterns of older adults over the last several decades. Drawing upon a life span developmental perspective, the predictors and consequences of leisure behavior in three leisure domains informal, formal, and physical were investigated with individuals aged 50 and above from all three waves of the Americans Changing Lives dataset (N = 1913). Two related studies were conducted. Study 1 used growth curve modeling to examine individual differences in intraindividual change in three domains of leisure behavior. Results indicate significant individual differences in patterns of change in all three leisure domains over time. Specifically, informal leisure participation was significantly predicted by gender, race, marital status, and socioeconomic status. Formal leisure patterns were predicted by age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status, and physical leisure was significantly affected by marital and socioeconomic status, gender, and race. Ability to perform activities of daily living and depression were significant predictors of all three domains of leisure, retirement significantly affected informal and physical leisure, and number of chronic illnesses only significantly predicted participation in the domain of physicalleisure. Curvilinear relationships between leisure and age were suggested for all three domains of leisure. Study 2 evaluated evidence for selective optimization with compensation in three domains of leisure activities using data from Waves 1 and 2. Disability, rather than age, accounts for changes in leisure behavior. Evidence of selective optimization with compensation was revealed only in formal leisure behaviors, with individuals who maintained participation in formal leisure activities demonstrating relatively fewer depressive symptoms than those who did not maintain participation. Findings from both of these studies have implications for practitioners, theory, and future research on activity patterns. Keywords: Leisure, Older Adults, Activity Patterns, Growth Curve Modeling, Selective Optimization with Compensation, Depressive Symptoms