[Sports and physical activity in the elderly: social structural context and relation to health]

The following contribution analyses the socio-structural context of sport as well as the relationship between sport/physical activity and health among older people (> or = 60 years).

The data are part of a telephone-survey by random sample with 436 realised cases in the independent cities of the Western Ruhr-District and thus represent a situation in highly urbanised areas.

In the cardinal question concerning the meaning of sport and physical activity for health a positive relationship was found, in particular between sport intensity and health measured by Advanced Activities of Daily Living (AADL) as well as for sport as hobby, which showed a highly significant relationship with subjective health. With regard to socio-demographic variables results show that sport and physical activity vary with gender and age. Apart from that attitudes like low external control for one's health as well as the value of appearance show strong relationships with sport participation. Stratification variables with the exception of income only show weak effects.

The results, which are partly not congruent, indicate that further research is needed in the field of sport and health among the aged.