Having Fun As We Age: A Survey of Adult Funstyles

[Pages:10]Having Fun As We Age: A Survey of Adult Funstyles

Report Prepared by RoperASW

For information contact Carol Keegan 202 434-6286

Copyright AARP, 2001 AARP

Knowledge Management 601 E Street NW

Washington, DC 20049 Reprinting with Permission

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people 50 and over. We provide information and resources; advocate on legislative, consumer, and legal issues; assist members to serve their communities; and offer a wide range of unique benefits, special products, and services for our members. These benefits include AARP Webplace at , Modern Maturity and My Generation magazines, and the monthly AARP Bulletin. Active in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and

the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP celebrates the attitude that age is just a number and life is what you make it.

Having Fun As We Age: A Survey of Adult Funstyles

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction and Method Overview ............................................................ 1 Summary of Findings .................................................................................. 2 I. American Fun and Passion ...................................................................... 7 II. Quantifying Fun.................................................................................... 19 III. Fun and Secrets ................................................................................... 30 IV. Other Insights into Fun and Passion ................................................... 37 Appendix: Annotated Questionnaire......................................................... 44

Having Fun As We Age: A Survey of Adult Funstyles

Introduction and Method Overview

Introduction and Method Overview

This report details the findings of a national telephone survey conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide on behalf of AARP to explore how Americans have fun and what they are most passionate about in life-- especially as they age.

Telephone interviews were conducted among a national cross-section of 2,118 Americans (age 18+) from June 15 ? July 9, 2001. Each interview took 15 minutes, on average, to administer. Sample was drawn from a national random digit dial (RDD) list.

Persons age 45-55 were oversampled to ensure a large enough base size for individual analysis. The oversample and other key demographic data were weighted to U.S. Census norms to correct for slight sampling errors.

Data for the total sample are projectible to Americans generally within a +/- 2 percentage point margin of error at the 95% confidence level.

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Having Fun As We Age: A Survey of Adult Funstyles

Summary Of Findings

Summary Of Findings

Americans "Really Love" Relationships

True to the stereotype, men are more likely to say they "really love" making love (64%) than any other of 12 activities asked about. Men keep this passion well into later life.

Over half (54%) also love to spend a romantic evening with their spouse or partner, especially those in early middle-age (61% of those 35-44).

Women, on the other hand, tend to "really love" a wider variety of activities than do men, and are more likely to sustain their passions into later life. By a fair margin over other activities asked about, women are most likely to say they love spending time with family (70%). This remains the top passion from age 18 into their later years.

About half of women (53%) also "really love" spending a romantic evening with their spouse or partner. This is especially true of younger women (e.g., 63% of those 18-34).

Top Passions

Asked to name, unaided, the activities in life they are most passionate about, men are most likely to name something related to sports, exercise, or the outdoors (54%). To a lesser extent, men are also passionate about social activities, such as spending time with family (28%) and with friends (20% of 18-34 year-olds).

Women, however, are most likely to be passionate about some kind of hobby or other activity (52%). Such passions grow steadily with age (e.g., 43% of 18-34 year-olds versus 64% of those 65-plus). But women are passionate about no one single hobby as much as they are about spending time with family--the most often mentioned passion (42%).

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Having Fun As We Age: A Survey of Adult Funstyles

Summary Of Findings

Taking the Time to Do the Things We Love

How often do Americans get to spend time doing their favorite activities?

Of the top three activities men "really love" to do, one of them--spending time with family--is something the majority (70%) get to do often. However, only a minority "often" get to enjoy the other top passions, making love (37%) and spending a romantic evening with their spouse/partner (37%).

Women, like men, also are not often able to indulge some of their passions. The majority does often get to spend time with their family (84%)--the most commonly cited activity they "love" to do--but only a minority often engages in other top passions, such as making love (34%) and spending a romantic evening with their spouse/partner (29%).

Does Life Get More Fun As We Age?

Asked whether, as they get older, they find themselves having more fun in life, less fun, or the same amount of fun, a plurality (43%) of men 18-34 agree that life is getting more fun.

By the time they reach middle-age (35-54), however, men are about as likely to say they are having the same amount of fun as they used to (34% versus 34% who are having more fun).

Ages 55-64 seem to be the least-fun years for men, when a plurality (38%) say life is getting less fun than it used to. Once they reach 65, however, the plurality (38%) says life is getting no more or less fun.

For women, life keeps getting more fun into older age. In fact, a plurality of women (42%) says life is more fun than it used to be until they reach age 65, at which point they are about as likely to say life is less fun than before (37%) or the same (35%).

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Having Fun As We Age: A Survey of Adult Funstyles

Summary Of Findings

The Most-Fun Age

Asked at what age they have had the most fun in life, men and women alike, by the time they've reached their senior years, look back and say their mid-30s (35, on average, among men; 34 among women).

Setting Aside Funtime

Though most men do not set aside time daily to "just have fun," most-- about eight in ten (79%)--do so at least once a week.

About three-quarters (73%) of women say they take time on at least a weekly basis to have fun, and they are most likely to say this between the ages of 18 and 34.

Does Work Take Away From Fun-Time? Surprisingly, No

Asked to estimate how many hours they have fun in an average week, men, on average, say about 22 hours, which is about half the time they spend working (46 hours, on average).

To what extent does work cut into fun time? Not much--in fact, even men who do not work report spending very similar amounts of time just having fun as do men who work.

Women tend to spend a little less time working (39 hours, on average) and having fun (18 hours) than do men in an average week. But they tend to have about as much fun per week throughout their lives, until they reach 65, when women lag behind men (12 versus 21 hours, on average).

Many Americans Only Pretend to Like Entertaining Guests

Nearly four in ten men (38%) say they "often" or "occasionally" pretend to enjoy entertaining guests more than they really do.

Sizable proportions of men also pretend to like doing things cultural or educational (35%) and spending time with family other than their spouse or partner (30%). On the other hand, few (14%) pretend they like making love more than they really do.

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