Age and Leisure

Leisure is the things you do in your spare time - hobbies, socialising, activities, sports... fun. 

Bradley - Childhood, adolescent, early adulthood, late adulthood/middle age, old age

Physical restraints - Older people may not being able to be as active and may have issues playing sports or fast paced activities. They might get tired faster. Whereas young people have better fitness which means they can be more active. They might be growing which could make them confused and stressed, which could lead to them being troublemakers.  Middle-aged people might take part in sports that are not as strenuous, such as darts. There is often a general level of fitness across different age groups which is why there are similar patterns when it comes to leisure persuits. The choices of people from the same age group affect our choices. Older people wear knitted clothes but they don't have a reason why they should. Why play golf and no other sports? There are stereotypes regarding middle-aged people playing darts. This could stem from them being old enough to go to the pub to drink and play. It is because people are influenced by the consumer and leisure choices of those around them. We are socialised into having particular behaviours and interests according to our age group.  Stereotypes and expecations mould the identities of people from different age groups. Youth and old ages are most commonly stereotyped, which is why they have more distinct leisure choices. It might be made out that old people shouldn't be active, so they follow this to fit in. 

Postmodernists claim that we have a lot more choice and that there are not homogenous groups of age. There is growing diversity amongst younger people and they are doing more of what they are interested in rather than what others are doing.