Leisure Motivation of Older Adults in Relation to Other Adult Life Stages

This cross-sectional study examined motivation for participation in physical activity at different adult life stages. T test analysis revealed no differences based on gender. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated differences based on life stage. Individuals in the 18–24 age range were highly motivated by competence mastery factors. In addition, participants older than age 65 were more highly motivated by social aspects of leisure. These results suggest that leisure professionals should seek to offer young adults options that help develop skills while older adult options should be focused less on competency and more on building social environments.