Evaluation of leisure time habits and geriatric depression according to socioeconomic status in older individuals

Objective: The purposes of this studies are; to determine how elderly people who have different socio-economic status spend their leisure; how socioeconomic status affect leisure habits and geriatric depression, and contribute to reducing geriatric depression by emphasizing the importance of gaining different leisure time habits for elders with different socioeconomic status. Method: It is a quantitative research which is applied to 100 participants selected from randomly selected individuals aged 55 years and over in Kütahya city. Results: Socioeconomic status of the participants and using the internet, family, relatives or friends with the way of spending time, traveling, going to the museum, dealing with association-foundation activities, doing sports, reading newspapers, reading books, going to the cinema, going to the theater, watching television, dealing with handicrafts, the frequency of depressions and depression and the severity of depression were tested with chi-square tests. There is a statistically significant relationship between the socioeconomic status of the participants and the using the internet, traveling, going to the museum, dealing with association-foundation activities, doing sports, reading newspapers, reading books, going to the cinema, going to the theater, dealing with handicrafts. There is also a statistically significant correlation between the participants' socioeconomic status and the participants' geriatric depression. Conclusion: Socioeconomic status of the participants affects the habits of leisure and the presence of geriatric depression. As socioeconomic status of the participants increases; using the internet, traveling, going to the museum, dealing with association-foundation activities, reading books, going to the cinema, going to the theater increases, however the presence of geriatric depression is decreases. Key words: elderly, socioeconomic status, leisure, geriatric depression