LEISURE IN COMMUNITY LIFE OF OLDER RURAL RESIDENTS

Much of the research on leisure among older people has focused on the impact of leisure on psychological well-being. However there appears a need to examine leisure from a more sociological level in terms of it s impact on the social structures in which elderly people are embedded . The purpose of this study was to examine leisure as a context for in teraction within the community lives of two subgroups of older residen ts in one rural region of South Carolina. Research methods were consis tent with an interpretive approach. Findings indicated that older life long residents of the region had experienced a steady erosion of socia l leisure interaction clue to changes in social structures. In contras t, older in-migrant residents had created and maintained their communi ties principally through social leisure involvements. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of leisure in both the creation and di ssolution of social bonds.