How unequal time use affects the elderly's life satisfaction

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how time use among the elderly in South Korea varies by demographic characteristics and how it affects life satisfaction. The data for this study come from the 2019 Time Use Survey of Statistics Korea, and the participants include 5,960 elderly individuals aged 65 and older who complete a time diary for two days. The research methods used are mean and standard error, t-test, ANOVA, multiple regression, and sequential logit regression. When comparing the time use of Korean elderly people by activity type (total average time), men spend more time sleeping (509.5 minutes), leisure (439.6 minutes), employment (120.8 minutes), and housework (73.4 minutes), while women spend more time sleeping (511.2 minutes), leisure (391.8 minutes), housework (188.6 minutes), and employment (64.1 minutes). The most influential time uses on the elderly’s life satisfaction are employment, caring for minors, and social activities for men, while sleep is the most influential for women. Men’s paid work and women’s sleep are found to have a negative impact, while men’s care of minors and men and women’s socializing activity are found to have a positive impact. This breaks down patriarchal gender role stereotypes. The threshold between positive and negative effects on life satisfaction is analyzed in terms of voluntary and involuntary time use. Voluntary time use seems to increase life satisfaction, while unavoidable time use seems to decrease life satisfaction. Therefore, it is expected that increasing the amount of time that the elderly voluntarily choose to spend is likely to increase their life satisfaction.