Leisure Orientation and Recreational Activities of Retirement Community Residents

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Abstract
The proposition that activities of retirement community residents are consistent with their personal orientations toward leisure is explored in this study. The study was carried out in four planned retirement communities in Arizona; 322 men who migrated there subsequent to their retirement in the Midwest were interviewed. Continuity was found in the pre- and post-retirement activity levels of the retirees, the prominent pattern being for migrants to disengage from formal groups in their home towns and to engage in the social life of the retirement community through increased participation in leisure activities. The migrants were oriented toward a leisure life-style in retirement and were attracted to these age-graded communities partly because of the opportunities available for an active social life in old age. The data suggest that most retirement community residents prefer to pursue consummatory-oriented roles rather than to engage in instrumental activities. The retirement community provides both the facilities and psychological atmosphere for the type of life they are seeking. Retirement in their home communities, on the other hand, might have exposed them to social norms which affirm the value of work and the importance of older persons remaining in productive roles. Concentration of these retirees in separate communities appeared to serve three functions in facilitating their adaptation to the retirement role: (1) age peers with compatible leisure orientations provide a reference group which legitimizes leisure behavior; (2) age-density permits the development of specialized recreational programs for this age group; and (3) the age-grading and status-grading in these communities produces a relatively homogeneous population which enhances the likelihood of residents developing viable friendships.