Leisure Sciences, 30: 235–252, 2008 Copyright C  Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0149-0400 print / 1521-0588 online DOI: 10.1080/01490400802017456 “I Did Not Have Time to Play Growing Up. . . So This is My Play Time. It’s the Best Thing I Have Ever Done for Myself”: What is Play to Older Women? CAREEN MACKAY YARNAL GARRY CHICK DEBORAH L. KERSTETTER Department of Recreation Park and Tourism Management The Pennsylvania State University, USA Little is known about play in older women’s leisure lives. An examination of The Red Hat Society  R , a leisure-based social group, expanded an understanding of play by including older women’s viewpoints. Because of the absence of literature about emotion and friendship in both play theory and evolutionary theory, our research questions included: how do older women define play, and what are the outcomes of older women’s play? Three themes about women’s play emerged from data analysis (a) a context for fun, laughter, and feeling good, (b) the chance to be silly and goofy, and (c) positive public reaction to play. Results are discussed by extending current conceptualizations of play theory and evolutionary theory and the roles of play in older women’s leisure lives and their health and well-being. Keywords friendship, health, leisure, older women, play, positive emotions Much of leisure involves play (Sutton-Smith, 1997). Adults play games such as bridge (Scott & Godbey, 1992) and sports such as bowling (Heuser, 2005). Adult play tends to be rule bound or structured in contrast to children’s play, which often is not (Sutton-Smith). An extensive literature describes play’s benefits for children (e.g., Chick & Barnett, 1995; Ellis, 1973; Piaget, 1951). Efforts to study how play may be beneficial to older adults, however, are limited (Cheang, 2002; Fine, 1991). Studies on older women’s play are almost nonexistent (Yarnal, 2004). Also absent from the literature is the contribution of play to older women’s leisure lives (see Yarnal, 2006, as an exception). The paucity of research on older women’s play is inopportune because “. . . factors that can help people maintain or enhance their cognitive and emotional health as they grow older [should be] a major public health goal for [the United States]” (Hendrie et al., 2006, p. 13). By 2030, for example, one in four U.S. women will be over age 65 and women who reach the current retirement age of 65 will, on average, live an additional 19 years (Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics, 2004). Elder, Johnson, and Crosnoe (2003) suggested that play, playfulness, and having fun in later life may contribute to the maintenance of cognitive functioning and emotional growth. Further, the positive emotions and friendships associated with play may be evolutionarily adaptive (Fredrickson, 2004; Taylor, 2002). Received 24 March 2006; accepted 7 April 2007. Address correspondence to Careen Mackay Yarnal, Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Manage- ment, The Pennsylvania State University, 812 Ford Building, University Park, PA 16802. E-mail: cmy122@psu.edu 235