Leisure styles: A hidden core

Abstract

Factor analysis has been employed in a number of North American and European studies to categorize leisure activities according to participation patterns. The resulting factors have been the basis of proposed labels for leisure styles. Since the results of the factor analyses have been found to vary with the relative heterogeneity of samples and activities studied, comparison of previous findings with a more varied sample and activity list is indicated. With an NORC national sample and participation measured in a diverse list of leisure activities, factor analysis was completed and stepwise multiple regression used to measure the relationship of the resulting factors to age, sex, and social position indices. The factors do not support a neat or clearly differentiated set of activity groupings. Further, a set of activities with high participation rates did not appear in any factors or vary systematically by age, sex, or social position. Support is given to a model that suggests that adult leisure chores begin with a common core of accessible and informal activities.     

Nature-based recreation associated with connectedness to nature and leisure satisfaction among students in Brazil

ABSTRACT

There is growing evidence that nature-based recreation (NBR) during childhood promotes connectedness to nature, which in turn fuels NBR during adulthood. In addition to providing a number of health benefits, NBR participation may enhance leisure satisfaction, an important predictor of happiness and life satisfaction. In this exploratory study, we tested these hypothesised links using a path model with a cross-sectional sample of 224 Brazilian college students, where NBR participation during childhood increases connectedness to nature and NBR participation during adulthood, which in turn promotes leisure satisfaction. The model fit the data well χ² (2) = 1.924, χ²/df = 0.962 (N = 220, p = .38), CFI = 1.00, AGFI = .978, GFI = .996, and RMSEA = .00, with results showing an indirect positive link between NBR during childhood and leisure satisfaction, and a direct link between NBR during adulthood and leisure satisfaction. The indirect effect of connectedness to nature on leisure satisfaction was also significant: NBR during childhood fostered connectedness to nature, which motivated NBR during adulthood and higher levels of leisure satisfaction. Leisure practitioners can improve people’s leisure satisfaction by promoting engagement in NBR activities across life stages and emphasising connection to nature.     

Empirical research on leisure and spiritual well-being: conceptualisation,measurement and findings

ABSTRACT

As a follow-up to recent chapters that concluded there is little existing evidence for a relationship between leisure and spiritual well-being, this paper reviews existing empirical research studies on leisure and spiritual well-being: their conceptualisation of spiritual well-being, methodology used, spiritual well-being measurement instruments, sample size, and the research findings. In the last 20 years, there has been an expansion of empirical research on leisure and spirituality; however, research has focused on immediate spiritual experience, not spiritual well-being. Nevertheless, 18 studies focus on leisure and spiritual well-being. All but three studies concluded that leisure was associated with spiritual well-being or contributed to spiritual well-being. Three studies also discovered that leisure could detract from spiritual well-being.     

Locating leisure as the route to well-being: challenges of researching women’s leisure in Turkey

ABSTRACT

This article interrogates the relation of leisure to subjective well-being by focusing on the language-based challenges during empirical research, which deeply impact upon both the substance of the data collected and its interpretation, thereby the knowledge that is produced on leisure. Drawing upon the empirical data collected via qualitative methods, the article seizes on the relationship between women’s free-time, labour, leisure and subjective well-being. The findings of the research suggest that the translation of leisure as ‘free time activities’ in Turkish creates serious challenges in researching women’s leisure. Women in this research understand leisure in multiple ways, such as an escape from boredom, a sphere of recuperation, pleasure and self-fulfilment which altogether represent their understanding of leisure as a route to their subjective well-being. Building on these findings, the article aims to highlight the importance of ethnographically guided qualitative research in uncovering both the meanings of and the interdependence between leisure and subjective well-being in both Turkey, the focus of the study, and other comparable societies around the world.     

Relation between intrinsic motivation and boredom in leisure time

Abstract

The present investigation replicated and extended an earlier finding of the negative relation between intrinsic motivation in leisure behavior and boredom in leisure time (Iso‐Ahola & Weissinger, 1987). Secondary analysis of data from 474 college undergraduates was used to construct a regression model of boredom. Results indicate that the self‐determination component of intrinsic leisure motivation explained the greatest portion of boredom variance (R = .38). Other variables entering the regression equation, in descending order of variance explained: competence, leisure ethic, age, and leisure repertoire (total R² = .52). Gender was not a significant predictor of boredom in leisure time. Results suggest that boredom in leisure time is usefully conceptualized as a disruption of the intrinsic motivation process.     

Well-being and leisure-time physical activity psychosocial factors predict physical activity among university students

ABSTRACT

Drawing from literature supporting top-down (i.e., well-being impacting leisure) and bottom-up (i.e., leisure impacting well-being) models explaining the bi-directional relationship between leisure and well-being, this study examines the complex relationship of well-being, leisure constraints, and leisure negotiation factors in predicting leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) rates among university students. Six hundred sixty-one university students completed an online questionnaire assessing psychological well-being (PWB), LTPA constraints, LTPA negotiation strategies, and LTPA rates. A multiple regression analysis indicated bottom-up and top-down variables jointly predict LTPA. In regards to bottom-up psychological LTPA variables, LTPA was positively predicted by LTPA planning and prioritisation skills and negatively predicted by constraints to recreation facility spaces, lack of time, and utilising financial strategies. In regards to top-down well-being, influences on LTPA, LTPA rates were negatively predicted by personal growth and positively predicted by autonomy. We highlight how the study findings might inform intentional university health promotion policies and programming, leading to a culture of student well-being through LTPA.     

Grounded Theory of Leisure Travel

Abstract

This article reviews grounded theory studies available in the literature that deepen understanding of leisure travel decisions and tourism behaviors. The article includes a set of core propositions that are examined empirically. The reported study includes applying the “long interview method” and “theoretical sampling” in completing personal, face-to-face, interviews of travel parties at the moment of just ending their visits to a Canadian Province. The empirical analysis focuses on acquiring process data held in the minds of customers-that is, the analysis illustrates emic-based storytelling of what was planned and what actually happened that led to what specific outcomes. Achieving such holistic, case-based views of leisure travel decisions and tourism behavior provides a rich, deep and nuanced-filled understanding of the causes and consequences of such behaviors.     

Married couples’ involvement with family vacations

Abstract

The involvement construct has received a great deal of attention in recent years. However, the majority of research on this topic has focused on the individual and has ignored spouses’ shared leisure involvement. In addition, little work has been done on involvement in the product‐class context of family vacations. This study examined the underlying dimensions of married couples’ involvement with family vacations and how these dimensions relate to selected personal variables. Factor analysis revealed two underlying dimensions. Stepwise multiple regression revealed that pleasure‐importance was positively related to gender role ideology and education and negatively related to presence of children in the home. A positive relation existed between the second dimension, sign value, and age. The study provides insight into both the nature of the involvement construct and how it might be used in future research.     

Social differences in leisure behavior: Measurement and interpretation

This article examines how three major dimensions of leisure behavior, i.e., rates of leisure participation, money expenditure for leisure goods and services and discretionary time available for leisure pursuits, are distributed across various socio‐demographic and socio‐occupational groups. The money expenditures for leisure, it is argued, follow traditional class lines most closely; the rates of leisure participation are characterized by a more egalitarian distribution; and the amounts of leisure time are often inversely related to social centrality and social status. The article interprets these varying patterns of leisure inequalities as a function of the cumulative nature of leisure participation as opposed to the “finite” nature of leisure time, and as a reflection of the complex relationship between leisure, work, income, leisure class, and leisure status.     

A Cross-Cultural/National Study of Canadian,Chinese, and Japanese University Students' Leisure Satisfaction and Subjective Well-Being

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine whether Canadian, Chinese, and Japanese university students' leisure satisfaction affected their subjective well-being (SWB) and, if so, how this process was similar and different cross-culturally/nationally. A series of stepwise multiple regressions indicated that, in general, satisfying leisure significantly and positively impacted SWB across all three cultures, but there were also differences between (a) Canada and both China and Japan in terms of aesthetic leisure satisfaction and (b) China and Japan in terms of psychological and physiological leisure satisfaction. Overall, our results suggest that while satisfying leisure significantly, positively, and substantively impacts SWB in both Western and East Asian cultural contexts, culture frequently influences which specific elements are pertinent. This cross-cultural/national study has important theoretical and practical implications for the currently Western-centric leisure literature and for the understanding of the different roles leisure plays in enhancing SWB across cultures, respectively.     

Asian North Americans' Leisure: A Critical Examination of the Theoretical Frameworks Used in Research and Suggestions for Future Study

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to critically examine the theoretical frameworks employed in the existing research on Asian North Americans' leisure and to offer insights into additional theories that might be used in future research on the topic. The study reviewed three major theoretical frameworks employed by previous research in the field of leisure studies: (1) assimilation and acculturation theory, (2) ethnicity-based theories, and (3) self-construal. The study also provides recommendations for alternative theoretical approaches that could be used in investigations of Asian North Americans' leisure, including racial discrimination and stereotyping, the multiple hierarchy stratification perspective, transnationalism, and cultural and social capital.     

Factors Related to Physically Active Leisure among College Students

The purpose of this study was to provide additional information about the complex relation of social cognitive constructs, gender, and active leisure among university students. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to test the hypothesized relations in a sample of 874 undergraduate students. Peer and family support had a moderate direct effect on self-efficacy while self-efficacy had a large direct effect on active leisure. A moderation effect was demonstrated. Peer support was more influential on male respondents' beliefs that they could be active and males reported higher active leisure participation when compared to females. The results of this study provide valuable insight into the mechanisms of influence on active leisure among this university population.     

Perceived Parental Control,Restructuring Ability,and Leisure Motivation: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

ABSTRACT

Leisure is viewed worldwide as an important developmental context for adolescents. As leisure research and programs are shared across nations, it is crucial to examine the cultural equivalence of leisure-related constructs and how they are related. Grounded in self-determination theory, this study explored the influence of perceived parental control and leisure restructuring ability on leisure motivation (amotivation and autonomous motivation) using samples of eighth grade adolescents in the United States and South Africa. Results of multiple-group structural equation modeling showed that the measurement model of the constructs was equivalent across the two samples, but the determinants of leisure motivation differed between the two samples. The findings provide implications for future cross-cultural research in leisure and offer insights on design and adaptation of leisure-based intervention and education programs in different cultural contexts.     

Gender,race, and subjective social class and their association with leisure preferences

Abstract

This study examines the leisure preferences of subgroups defined by gender, race, and subjective social class. The multiple hierarchy stratification perspective and the class polarization perspective provided the theoretical rationale for the study, and a secondary data set from a national probability telephone survey was used. The interviews obtained information regarding the leisure preferences of adults age 21 to 65. From 2,148 contacts, 1, 711 interviews were completed. The results provide partial support for the study's hypotheses. Poor‐working‐class Black women were distinct from White men and women and middle‐class Black men, but they were similar to the other Black groups. As hypothesized, the leisure preferences of middle‐class Black and White men were similar. However, contrary to the study's hypothesis, Black men of different classes did not exhibit greater dissimilarity when compared with Black women of different classes.     

Street Corner Society: Leisure Careers,Youth (Sub)culture and Social Exclusion

Abstract

This paper draws upon qualitative research with ‘socially excluded’ young people in the North East of England. It proposes that the concept and study of ‘leisure careers’ is useful in understanding the transitions, (sub)cultural experiences and identities of social groups like this. The empirical focus is upon the significance of leisure careers in the neighbourhood‐based, social networks of some criminally involved, socially excluded young adults. Theoretically, we argue that a focus on leisure careers, as part of a broad, holistic approach to youth transitions, can help overcome some of the problems that currently affect youth studies. In particular, fuller examination of shifting, leisure‐based activities and identities within studies of youth transition may help bridge the analytical divide between that tradition of youth research and that which focuses primarily on youth culture and identity.     

Measurement of Time Involvement in Family Activities: Alternative Scaling Procedures for the Family Leisure Activity Profile

ABSTRACT

This research note describes an alternative scaling procedure for the Family Leisure Activity Profile (FLAP; Zabriskie & McCormick, 2001). The alternative scaling procedure preserves the ratio-level character of responses to FLAP questionnaire items, and it produces an estimate of prevalence of participation with interpretable units of time (hours). In contrast, the traditional FLAP scoring approach produces scores on an arbitrary scale, and these scores can be distorted indicators of involvement in core and balance activities. The increased precision and greater variation produced by the alternative scoring procedure may be a key to more consistent findings regarding family leisure in future studies.     

Polluted Leisure

Abstract

Leisure now involves becoming-with pollution. In this article, I work with the concept of “polluted leisure” to better understand and respond to the enmeshment of pollution and leisure in late capitalist societies. Pollution and leisure are argued to be mutually shaping. Evidence for the argument is provided through a pilot study of “intoxicated” surfers at a postindustrial site. The study proceeds through a more-than-human paradigm. Nonhuman and material agencies are fused with socio-economic (specifically capitalism) and human subjectivity issues, for example, gender (specifically masculinity). A “wet ethnography,” an experimental multimedia transdisciplinary methodology, is employed to notice and articulate the dynamic complexity. It is concluded that the busyness of pollution complicates leisure discourses that bifurcate nature and society, natural and artificial, subject and object that shape environmental politics, sustainability efforts, and notions of wellbeing achieved through encounters with Blue Spaces.     

Identity,Politics, and the Beach: Environmental Activism in Surfers Against Sewage

Abstract

Academic accounts of leisure activities like surfing tend to emphasise their individualistic, hedonistic and commercialised qualities, seeing this as characteristic of leisure consumption in late capitalism; that culture is increasingly dominated by the market and attention is diverted from collective and political issues. Yet empirical research in such lifestyle sport cultures reveals a more complex and contradictory picture of leisure consumption. This paper examines the pressure group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), founded by surfers in Cornwall, England. It draws on subcultural media discourses about SAS and interviews with SAS members and personnel. Whilst acknowledging the limitations in the political significance and impact of SAS’s activism, the paper argues that through their sport consumption, participants from a range of minority water sports cultures have formed a politicised trans‐local collectivity based around a concern with their own localised environment, one which has become articulated into broader trans‐national political issues. It is argued further that SAS is part of a broader wave of new social movements and direct action protest groups that gathered momentum in Britain in the mid to late 1990s. In such groups the politics of identity take centre stage. The paper therefore challenges us to rethink the meaning of political activism, and the capacity of leisure and sport to contribute to the politics of identity.     

Empirical investigation of the relationship between serious leisure and meaning in life among Japanese and Euro-Canadians

ABSTRACT

Serious leisure (SL) is a specific leisure experience characterised by perseverance, leisure career, personal effort, durable benefits, unique ethos, and identification with the activity. As it results in self-actualisation and self-expression, Robert Stebbins has proposed that SL does not only increase participants’ hedonic well-being (e.g. pleasant feelings), but also enhance their eudaimonic well-being [e.g. meaning in life (MIL), self-expressiveness, virtue]. Although this argument makes logical sense, it has not been empirically tested. The purpose of this research is to empirically examine the relationship between SL and eudaimonic well-being focusing on MIL. We used data from 207 Japanese and 202 Euro-Canadian middle-aged and older adults collected through a cross-sectional online survey. After multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, multiple mediation analyses were conducted to test whether SL core characteristics impacted MIL or its sub-dimensions (i.e. purpose, coherence, and significance) both directly and indirectly via personal and interpersonal rewards of SL. Results suggested that among Japanese, SL was positively related to MIL both directly and indirectly via SL’s personal rewards. Among Euro-Canadians, the direct link was limited to only a few MIL sub-dimensions, and indirect effects were not significant. These mixed results were discussed in relation to SL, eudaimonic well-being, and culture.