Leisure Activities Scale for Older Adults: Development and Validation

Develop and provide psychometric evidence for a leisure activities scale tailored to Peruvian older adults. We enrolled 240 participants aged 60–84 years (M = 68.02; SD = 6.59) from three community centers using purposive, non-probability sampling. Dimensionality was examined with Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) and bootstrap EGA (1,000 resamples) to estimate structural consistency. Reliability was assessed via structural consistency and McDonald’s omega. Convergent/criterion relations were tested with Spearman’s rho using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Group differences were evaluated with Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests. The initial 21 items were refined to a final 18-item scale with four dimensions: physical, cognitive, recreational–cultural, and social–relational leisure. Structural consistency was high (96–100%), and network loadings were adequate across dimensions. All dimensions correlated positively with life satisfaction and negatively with anxiety and depression, with relatively stronger associations for the cognitive and social–relational domains. Significant differences emerged by living arrangements, marital status, smoking, and use of messaging apps, especially for physical and cognitive leisure. The scale offers a brief, multidimensional, and culturally relevant measure of leisure in older adults, suitable for screening and intervention planning in community and clinical settings.