THE DAILY LIFE OF ELDERLY GERMANS - ACTIVITY PATTERNS, PERSONAL CONTROL, AND FUNCTIONAL HEALTH

Aging processes are often described as an interacting system of personal and environmental conditions. It is surprising, therefore, to find an almost complete lack of reliable data describing the everyday lives of the elderly in terms of external components such as type of activities, locations, and companionship. The present study is an attempt to remedy this lack of information and thereby provide a basis for a better understanding of aging processes. Forty-nine mobile and independently living elderly people (mean age = 72.7) recorded their daily activities over a period of 6 months. During a randomly selected week per month they kept a prestructured diary about what activities they engaged in, where, when, and with whom. In addition, functional health and personal control beliefs were assessed. The diaries were coded along 37 activity categories (inter-rater reliability estimated via Cohen's Kappa: M = .93), 5 categories for location and 6 categories for companionship. The major findings can be summarized as follows: The typical activity profile is characterized, in terms of highest frequency, by obligatory activities. In terms of time, however, they make up but little more than half of the day, predominantly the mornings. Afternoons and evenings were mostly spent with leisure activities. The path of daily lives of the elderly were marked by two geographic domains. The first and foremost is the home, followed by public places. With regard to the relationship between activities and personal control, we find a close relationship particularly when functional health is low. Based on level and type of activities, three clusters of elderly can be discerned which also show significant differences in functional health and personal control. Results are discussed in light of age-comparative research.