Many studies in the literature have examined older adults’ past and current lifestyles in either positive or negative association with their life satisfaction levels. Health capabilities naturally decline with aging and can consequently be related to older adults’ life satisfaction levels. Thus, the present study sought to examine the effects of age difference, lifestyles, and health capabilities on older adults’ life satisfaction levels. A total of 290 older adults from three clinical research centers in the United States completed a self-administered questionnaire on their lifestyles and life satisfaction levels, and their health capability assessments were evaluated. There was a significant effect of advancing age on life satisfaction levels among older adults. Additionally, engagement in exercise or physical activity significantly influenced life satisfaction levels. However, there were no statistical effects of vital signs and functional assessments of health capabilities on life satisfaction among older adults. The findings suggest that advancing age itself is the strongest factor in older adults’ life satisfaction. Additionally, engagement in exercise and physical activity can enhance life satisfaction levels as a supplemental factor among older adults. These findings can be beneficial to optimize life satisfaction levels through appropriate programs to encourage positive lifestyles among older adults.

The continuous increase in enrollment of international collegiate students into higher education highlights the importance of assessing diverse leisure opportunities that meet the needs of a diverse student population. The current study assessed the influence of leisure constraints on intramural and competitive sport participation rates between domestic and international students. A total of 273 participants were included for analysis (196 domestic students & 77 international students). International students were observed to have significantly higher intrapersonal and structural leisure constraints to participate in intramural sports, while domestic students had significantly lower leisure constraints. Implications of the study’s findings are discussed to include unique programming strategies for recreation and university administrators.

Background: Leisure satisfaction has been one of primary variables to explain an individual’s choice of leisure and recreational activities’ participation. The Leisure Satisfaction Scale (LSS)-short form has been widely utilized to measure leisure and recreation participants’ satisfaction levels. However, limited research has been studied on the LSS-short form that would provide sufficient evidence to use it to measure individual leisure satisfaction levels. Thus, the purpose of the study was to determine whether the LSS-short form would be appropriate to measure individuals’ leisure satisfaction levels. Method: The convenience sampling was used in this study from the south-central United States. The LSS-short form questionnaire was administered to 436 individuals after removing 20 surveys due to incomplete questions. The WINSTEPS computer program was utilized to analyze the Rating scale fit; Item fit; Differential Item Functioning (DIF); and Person-Item map by utilizing Rasch rating scale model. Results: The results indicated that the five-point Likert-type LSS-short form was appropriate to utilize. Two of 24 LSS-short form items had overfit or misfit and were eliminated. DIF indicated that all remained 22 items were suitable to measure leisure satisfaction levels. Overall, 22 item were finally selected for the reconstructed version of the LSS-short form. In addition, Person-Item map showed that ability and item difficulty were fit matched. Conclusions: As the importance of leisure has been increased, the newly reconstructed LSS-short form would be recommended to evaluate individual leisure satisfaction levels in future studies. Furthermore, leisure and recreation professionals can provide and develop effective leisure activities or programs by measuring individual’s leisure satisfaction level with the new version of LSS-short form.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Exercise Motivations Inventory − 2 (EMI-2) scale would be appropriate to measure college students’ exercise motivation. Participants: The EMI-2 scale questionnaire was administered to 325 college students in the southwestern U.S. Method: The WINSTEPS program was conducted to analyze Rating Scale Fit, Differential Item Functioning (DIF), and Item fit by applying Rasch rating scale model calibration. Results: A 5-point Likert-type rating scale of the EMI-2 was more appropriate to investigate college students’ exercise motivation. Seventeen of 51 items were selected as the DIF, and one item had over standard item fit. Overall, 33 items were finally selected for a new version of the EMI-2 scale for college students. Additionally, Person-Item map showed that person ability and item difficulty were fit matched. Conclusions: This reconstructed EMI-2 scale can be utilized to assess exercise motivations of college students.

This study sought to determine whether there is any difference on participation in regular exercise between middle-aged and older adults and to determine whether the benefits of regular exercise differed between middle-aged and older adults in terms of health capability, mood, or anxiety symptoms and life-satisfaction level. The results indicated that older adults engaged in regular exercise more frequently than middle-aged adults. In addition, exercise participants among middle-aged adults had the better health capabilities, lower depression and anxiety symptoms, and higher life-satisfaction level than nonparticipants. On the other hands, older adults tended to be negatively associated with depression and anxiety symptoms and be positively correlated with life-satisfaction level than middle-aged adults even if middle-aged adults had the better health capabilities. These findings might be beneficial to provide appropriate exercise programs, to prevent and minimize the negative symptoms of anxiety and depression, and to facilitate the life-satisfaction level.