Your Government at Work: Religion and Time-Usage Reports - Page 18

Leisure Activities (by the Entire Population)

--On an average day in 2003, nearly everyone (96 percent) age 15 and over reported some sort of leisure or sports activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Including the small proportion of the population that reported no leisure activities, men spent more time doing leisure activities (5.4 hours) than women (4.8 hours).
(See table 1.)

--Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time, accounting for about half of leisure time on average for both men and women. Socializing, such as visiting with friends or attending or hosting social events, was the next most common leisure activity, accounting for about three-quarters of an hour per day for both sexes.
(See table 1.)

--Men were more likely than women to participate in sports on any given day, 19 versus 16 percent. Men also spent more time in sports activities on the days they participated, 2.0 versus 1.3 hours. (See table 1.)

--In households with children under age 6, employed adult women spent 3.3 hours per day in leisure and sports activities. Those in households without children spent 4.2 hours per day. (See table 6.)

--Time spent in leisure and sports activities was greatest at the youngest and oldest ages. Persons ages 15 to 24 averaged 5.5 hours of leisure time per day while those age 65 and over--most of whom were not employed--reported 7.2 hours of leisure. Persons ages 55 to 64 reported 5.3 hours. Persons ages 25 to 54 spent less time doing leisure activities but still recorded more than 4 hours per day. (See table 3.)

--Older persons spent a larger proportion of their leisure time than others watching TV, reading, and relaxing/thinking. Younger persons spent a relatively larger share of their time socializing, playing sports, and playing games or using a computer for leisure. Reading as a primary activity varied greatly by age. The oldest age group averaged an hour of reading per day, while the youngest averaged about 8 minutes. (See table 9.) Much of this fits our household: my wife does spend more time on housework and childcare than I do, but I do the smelly, gross and heavy duties, and I do provide childcare to both of our young children 2-3 hours a day. I also work longer hours: about 12 per day to my wife's 8. But neither of us have all that much leisure time, between work, childcare and household duties.

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