Meaningful, cognitive, and leisure activities and life satisfaction in community-dwelling older adults

Engagement in meaningful, cognitive, and leisure activities has been shown to influence life satisfaction among older adults. This study examined these relationships in a cross-sectional survey of 134 community-dwelling older adults aged 60 years and above. Instruments included the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS-12), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS-5), and Cognitive and Leisure Activities Scale (CLAS-16). Based on established scoring, EMAS engagement levels were categorised as low (<30), moderate (30–39), and high (≥40). Results indicated that 59% of participants reported moderate engagement, 26.1% high engagement, and 14.9% low engagement. Mean scores were EMAS 36.1 (SD = 7.44), SWLS 29.28 (SD = 3.77), and CLAS 40.41 (SD = 10.00). Correlation analysis revealed that EMAS was significantly associated with SWLS (r = 0.45, p < 0.001) and CLAS (r = 0.44, p < 0.001), while SWLS was also positively related to CLAS (r = 0.27, p = 0.002). Significant differences in engagement were found based on community activity involvement (p < 0.001), education level (p < 0.001), and occupation type (p < 0.001). A weak but significant negative correlation was observed between EMAS and age (r = –0.29, p < 0.001). These findings suggest that while life satisfaction among older adults was generally high, engagement in meaningful and cognitive-leisure activities was only moderate, highlighting the need for tailored, age-friendly interventions. This study addresses reviewer feedback by clarifying the cut-off points for engagement categories to enhance interpretability of results.