The relationship between productive engagement and well-being in later life: gender perspectives from Italy

Background Several theories support the idea that the engagement in productive activities have emerged as a key component of successful ageing. Empirical studies usually focus on one single type of productive activity, while there is a lack of research studying the relationship between the time spent in different types of productive activities simultaneously and Life Satisfaction (LS) at older ages, a predictor of various health outcomes. It also remains unclear how these relationships change according to gender and to the day of the week in which productive activities are performed. This paper fills this gap focusing on Italy, a country characterized by one of the most aged populations in the world and by pervasive familism. Methods This paper analyses a subsample of 10,021 individuals aged 60 years and older from the 2013 Italian Multipurpose Time Use Survey, a nationally representative survey capturing how individuals allocate their time across a full 24-h period. The relationship between the daily time dedicated to productive activities and LS are analysed by Anova and by multiple regression analysis. Results The ANOVA analysis indicates significant differences in self-perceived LS between individuals who engage in certain activities and those who do not, regardless of the amount of time spent on these activities. Multiple regression models’ results indicate that the amount of daily time spent only in childcare and volunteering is significantly associated with higher LS. Working in the weekend, spending excessive time in childcare, or taking care of older adults, especially in the weekend can be detrimental for older people’s LS. The identified associations are deeply gendered: volunteering seems to be rewarding only for men, while childcare only for women. The detrimental effect for LS of spending time in adult care is evident only for women. Conclusions Other things being equal, Life Satisfaction in later life is not associated with productive engagement per se, but rather with the amount of time older individuals dedicate to specific productive activities and the conditions under which those activities are performed. Furthermore, results vary according to both gender and the day of the week on which activities are carried out.