Engagement in Adulthood: Perceptions and Participation in Daily Activities.

The present research explores how older adults experience daily activities through an application of the Day Reconstruction Method (Kahneman, Kreuger, Schakade, Schwartz, & Stone, 2004). Over the course of the day, individuals (N = 192, M = 72 years) spent an average of 14.50 hours engaged in a variety of activities. Individual differences in activity patterns could be partly explained by age and educational attainment. The oldest individuals (81-92 years) perceived lower levels of competence when engaging in daily activities. Regardless of age, however, individuals with greater educational attainment allocated more time and felt more intellectually challenged in their daily experiences.