[Daily life activity patterns among the elderly: is what they claim to do what they wish to do?]

This study is aimed at exploring daily and desired activity patterns in a sample of older people, as well as at examining some influence factors and their relationships to life satisfaction. Our sample was made of 154 retired people living in urban areas and whose age was greater than 60 years old. Data about activities were gathered by means of an interview while life satisfaction scores were obtained by applying LSI scale. Our results show how the pattern of activities that our participants say to have done yesterday is quite similar to an ideal pattern, although in the ideal day time spent with other people is far greater. Factors like gender and economic and educational level have an influence on patters of activity, especially on instrumental and leisure ones. The difference between yesterday and ideal activities was negatively related to life satisfaction. Such a relationship was modest, but reached statistical significance.