A motivational model of leisure participation in the elderly

We developed a motivational model of leisure participation to examine the factors that may encourage involvement by the elderly in leisure activities. This model posits that opportunities and constraints determine motivation to participate, which in turn predicts satisfaction. Satisfaction is expected to lead to participation. In a study testing the proposed model, 102 elderly Canadians answered a questionnaire assessing the variables in the model. As predicted, results of a path analysis supported the proposed motivational model and accounted for 32% of the variance in the elderly's leisure participation. These results are discussed in the light of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985).