IPUMS Time Use consists of three data collections: IPUMS ATUS (American Time Use Survey), IPUMS AHTUS (American Heritage Time Use Study), and IPUMS MTUS (Multinational Time Use Study). Each of these data collections provides data from time diary studies, where respondents record their activities over a short period of time—usually a day—and include details about where and with whom they did the activity. IPUMS ATUS and IPUMS AHTUS provide U.S. data, while IPUMS MTUS provides data from 23 countries.
In IPUMS ATUS, time spent on community participation can be identified with the activity-level variable ACTIVITY—which codes each time use activity according to a detailed classification system—or with a number of person-level variables reporting the amount of time a respondent spent on various activities. Community participation can be captured in time spent on activities like volunteer activities, religious and spiritual activities (e.g., church services), attending events (e.g., sporting events, senior citizens meetings), and socializing (e.g., talking with friends). For each activity, users can identify with whom the respondent spent time, and where the activity took place. These variables can be used to determine, for example, how much time an older adult spent with others, or the types of places in the community older adults spend their time.
IPUMS AHTUS allows users to study time use in the U.S. for a limited range of years between 1930 and 2018. Information is available about the activity, who the respondent was with during the activity, and where the activity took place. The AHTUS data can be used to study trends in the community participation of older adults over a long range of time, albeit with less detail about the activities.
IPUMS MTUS provides time use data from many countries, allowing users to study community participation of older adults around the world and across time. Information is available about the activity, who the respondent was with during the activity, and where the activity took place. In some samples, more or less detailed information is available. Users should note that a number of samples only include respondents up to a maximum age.
In all three time use data collections from IPUMS, users can use our custom time use variable builder tools to measure older adults’ community participation. Custom time use variables report the amount of time spent on activities specified by the user, and can optionally include only time spent in certain locations and/or with certain people. For example, it is possible to create a variable that reports the amount of time each respondent spent out of their home and in the presence of at least one non-household member.
Users should consider pooling multiple samples together to ensure sample sizes are large enough to study a relatively small population (older adults) using time use data. Sample sizes can be found on the sample description page for each data collection.
Example studies of community participation using IPUMS data
- Chen, J. H. (2024). Pandemic and Older Adults’ Social Structure of Shared Time. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 79(2), gbad159.
- Yu, J., Huang, W., & Kahana, E. (2025). Temporal and Racial/Ethnic Patterns of Social Engagement among Older Adults: Evidence from American Time Use Survey 2019 to 2022. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 44(1), 116-125.