Started Activities of 80-Year-Old Japanese Seniors

(1)

Started Activities of 80‑Year‑Old Japanese Seniors

会議概要（会議名, 開催地, 会期, 主催者等）

18th ISA World Congress of Sociology

発表年月日 2014‑07

URL http://id.nii.ac.jp/1477/00003815/

Creative Commons : 表示 ‑ 非営利 ‑ 改変禁止 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by‑nc‑nd/3.0/deed.ja

(2)

Newly Started Activities of 80-Year-Old Japanese Seniors

Wataru Koyano (Seigakuin University)

Shino Sawaoka (Dia Foundation for Research on Ageing Societies) Yuichi Ando (National Institute of Public Health )

Hitoshi Osada (Suginami City) Ichiro Kai (University of Tokyo)

Paper presented at the 18th ISA World Congress of Sociology International Association of Sociology

July 13 - 14, 2014, Yokohama, Japan

Eighty-year-old Japanese seniors were asked if they had started new activities after their age of 70. All seniors aged 80 years living in Suginami City, Metropolitan Tokyo, were invited to participate to a research program organized by the city as her 80-year anniversary. Among the seniors listed, 2,476 persons responded to a mailed questionnaire (response rate was 66.0%). Over 70% of the respondents (72.1% of men and 72.5% of women) reported their health condition was excellent or fair.

Thirty-nine percent of the respondents (38.7% of men and 39.3% of women) answered that they had started some new activities after age 70. Various activities were reported. The most frequently mentioned new activity was hobby (46.8% of seniors who had started new activities; 37.4% in men and 53.3% in women), followed by athletic activities (35.0%; 33.3% in men and 36.1% in women) and personal computer and/or mobile phone (21.0%; 25.6% in men and 17.7% in women). Not only sedentary activities such as reading and playing games, but also kinetic activities, including walking, swimming, and gymnastics, were indicated. Seniors who were healthy at age 80 were more likely to have such activities than those who were not healthy.

In Japan, where population aging has been rapidly progressing and life expectancy at

birth has been rapidly increasing, seniors have become younger and younger than

their age-peers in older cohorts, physically as well as socio-psychologically. The results

of this first-wave survey of 80-year-old seniors living in a relatively affluent urban

area seem to show spryness and "youthfulness" of today's Japanese seniors.

(3)

Wataru Koyano, Shino Sawaoka, Yuichi Ando, Hitoshi Osada, Ichiro Kai

Newly Started Activities of 80-Year-Old Japanese Seniors

50.06 59.57

75.92 77.72 73.35

69.31 65.32

79.64 84.60 81.90 78.76 74.66 70.19 62.97 53.96

86.39

40 60 80 100

1947 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Men

Women

Changes in Life Expectancy at Birth

18.78

11.62 12.50 14.56

17.54 16.22

11.35 10.16

23.84

12.22 13.36 14.10 15.34

17.68 20.03 22.42

0 10 20 30

1947 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Men

Women

Changes in Life Expectancy at Age 65

79.94 86.41

18.89 23.82

0 20 40 60 80 100

0-year-old 65-year-old

Men Women

Life Expectancy in 2012 Abridged Life Table

Purpose

To describe how Japanese seniors are active and

"young".

Data

The data were obtained from the baseline mail survey of a research program organized by Suginami City, Metropolitan Tokyo, as a part of the city’s 80 years anniversary in 2012.

All 80-year-old residents of the city were invited to participate as subjects.

1 2

3 4

5 6

(4)

Suginami City

Yokohama City

Population: 542,956 65+ : 20.6%

75+ : 10.9%

(1/1/2014)

Among the 80-year-old residents,

2,476 responded to the baseline mail survey.

The response rate was 66.0%.

Respondents were:

Gender; Women 58.4% Men 41.6%

Self-Rated Health;

Good or Fair 72.3%

Poor or Very Poor 27.7%

38.6 39.3 39.0

0 20 40 60

Men Women Total

(%)

Findings

Started New Activity After Age 70

29.5 42.9 39.0

0 20 40 60

Poor Good Total

(%)

Started New Activity by Self-Rated Health

23.9 24.5 24.2

71.0 70.0 70.4

4.5

4.6

4.4 0.8

0.9

0.8

0 20 40 60 80 100

Men Women Total

(%) 1 2 3 4

Number of Newly Started Activity

3.6 8.3

10.4 21.0

35.0

46.8 10.7

0 20 40 60

Other Social Household Chores PC/Mobile Phone Hobby Learning Athletic

(%)

Newly Started Activity

7 8

9 10

(5)

Examples of Newly Started Activity

• Gymnastic Exercise, Stretching (11.7%)

• Walking (8.1%)

• Swimming, Aqua Walk, Aqua Aerobics (4.6%)

• Studying Foreign Language (2.4%)

• Playing Game (11.6%)

• Playing Music (3.4%)

• Singing (8.1%)

• Personal Computer, Internet (21.1%)

• Cooking (9.2%)

_2.8

10.5 14.4

25.4 37.5 11.1

33.2

4.1 6.8

7.7 17.9

53.2 10.5

36.3

0 20 40 60

Other Social Houshold Chores PC/Mobile Phone Hobby Learning Athletic

(%)

Newly Started Activity by Gender

Summary

 Forty percent of 80-year-old seniors had started some new activities after age 70.

 Various types of activities were found; not only sedentary activities, but also kinetic and intellectual activities.

古稀

 Traditional celebration of seventieth birthday is called . This term came from an ancient Chinese poem saying “man seldom lives to be seventy years old”.

 Contrary to the ancient Chinese poem, the latest abridged life table (2012) shows that the survival rate at age 70 is 81.65% in men and 91.15% in women.

 In today's Japan, seniors have become younger and younger than their age-peers in older cohorts, physically as well as socio- psychologically, though the general public seems not to recognize it accurately.

Started Activities of 80-Year-Old Japanese Seniors