Cultural participation of older adults: investigating the contribution of lowbrow and highbrow activities to social integration and satisfaction with life
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Vera Toepoel
Abstract
This paper analyses the contribution that cultural activities make to social integration and satisfaction with life for older adults, using a nationally representative Dutch sample. Older people participate less frequently in social gatherings and have fewer close contacts than the adult population in general. They also experience increased feelings of loneliness. In contrast, older Dutch adults feel better integrated socially, which suggests that feelings of social integration and loneliness are independent of one another. Older adults show higher participation rates in highbrow activities compared to the adult population as a whole. This study, however, shows that lowbrow or undiscriminating behaviours may increase social integration and satisfaction with life. Consequently, it may be appropriate to stimulate older people to participate frequently in lowbrow activities such as popular music events, cabaret, and cinema. Public policy-makers, therefore, can consider changing focus from highbrow to lowbrow activities in order to respond to the social challenges associated with older age.
©2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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Articles in the same Issue
- Publisher's Note
- Publisher's Note
- EDITORIAL
- Leisure across the life course
- REVIEWS
- Stop aging and start living: the theory and practice of positive aging
- Efficacy of leisure experiences in controlling the onset of dementia in older adults
- ORIGINAL ARTICLES
- Leisure participation and the life, health, leisure and retirement satisfaction of retirees: a case study of Port Macquarie, Australia
- Yoga as a means to negotiate physical activity constraints in middle-aged and older adults
- Cultural participation of older adults: investigating the contribution of lowbrow and highbrow activities to social integration and satisfaction with life
- Reconstructing leisure in adapting to chronic illness in later life: emotional and behavioral strategies
- Older adults’ computer use: a case study of participants’ involvement with a SeniorNet program
- Leisure and disability: Mobility Assist program for aging and older adults
- Increasing the self-efficacy of individuals with a disability through a theory-based curriculum applied to playing golf
- The reliability and norms of the Leisure Diagnostic Battery for undergraduate recreation majors who are deaf
- Book reviews
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