Motivations and Trends of Active Older Adult Users and How They Influence Outdoor Adventure Education Program Opportunities

Abstract

By 2029, “Baby Boomers” in the United States will be reaching retirement age in historic numbers (Cruse & Hillman 2012; McLean, et al., 2005b; Colby & Ortman, 2014). Adventure education programs have an opportunity to prepare for the largest demographic shift in United States history, as the baby boomer generation also prepares for life after work. This Secondary Data Analysis study used the data collected for six years over an eight-year span. The original study collected data from an 801-sample size and had respondents with an age range of 13-68 years old, with nation-wide representation (Gilberston & Ewert, 2015). The sample size for this current study is 71, 45 to 68 year olds. The following questions were asked: “What are the motivations of active older adult participants who participate in adventure education programming?” “What are the trends in the motivations of adult populations who participate in adventure education programs?” and "Is there a difference between genders of adult participants in adventure education programs?" Motivations of active older adults differ from that of younger populations. They are searching for programming that offers active older adults clear, achievable goals, in a natural setting and programming that they have some influence over. In addition active older adults find that being part of a group, the excitement of doing something new, and a chance to build on-or-acquire new skills within adventure education programming are important motivations to participate.