Exploring the Experience of Intergroup Contact and the Value of Recreation Activities in Facilitating Positive Intergroup Interactions of Immigrants

The purpose of this study was to explore life experiences of immigrants and their interactions with members of other ethnic groups. This study also examined the role that recreation activities played in positive intergroup interactions. Using qualitative in-depth interview among Korean women immigrants, three salient themes were identified: (a) a lack of opportunities for intergroup contact, (b) distinct inter-ethnic boundaries, and (c) engagement in recreation activities as a facilitator of positive intergroup contacts. This study showed that participation in recreation activities helped to develop cross-group friendships and ethic and cultural understandings, and reduced life challenges and barriers.     

Examining the Relationship Between Motivation,Enduring Involvement and Volunteer Experience: The Case of Outdoor Recreation Voluntary Associations

Voluntary associations representing numerous types of recreation users and environmental issues have recently flourished. However, the literature has not sufficiently studied these associations and their members’ experiences. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of enduring involvement as mediator and moderator on the relationship between membership motivation and volunteer experience of outdoor recreation voluntary associations (ORVAs). Data were collected from an on-line survey of members of three ORVAs in Texas (n = 315). Six distinct dimensions of membership motivation and three dimensions of involvement were identified. Results indicated that enduring involvement fully mediated the relationship between membership motivation and volunteer experience. Members that are motivated to join ORVAs for social networking, civic engagement, and self-enhancement reasons had more volunteer experience through enhanced enduring involvement levels. The moderator effect of enduring involvement was also significant. The association between membership motivation and volunteer experience was stronger as involvement level increased.     

The influence of recreation experiences on environmentally responsible behavior: the case of Liuqiu Island,Taiwan

Scientific understanding of the relationships between recreation experience and environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) of nature-based tourists is limited. To address this research gap, this study examines the relationship between recreation experiences (i.e. education, experiential engagement, esthetics, and escapism) and the general and site-specific ERB of tourists on Liuqiu Island in Taiwan. In total, 443 usable questionnaires were collected. The empirical results indicate that general ERB is positively and significantly affected by experiential engagement and the escapism of recreation experiences. The site-specific ERB of tourists is positively and significantly affected by the education, esthetics, and escapism of the recreation experience. We conclude that when people participate in the types of nature-based tourism described here, their recreation experiences can strengthen their sense of engagement in general and site-specific ERB, and contribute constructively to positive aspects of sustainable tourism. The management implications presented in this paper provide valuable insights for sustainable tourism. We suggest that recreation managers at nature-based tourism destinations collaborate to plan and implement recreational activities that are integrated with environmental education initiatives. This approach will encourage tourists to simultaneously engage in high-quality recreation experiences and ERB.     

Exploring intersections of physicality and female‐only canoeing experiences1

The benefits of single‐gender experiences for females have been discussed in a variety of contexts, including education, sport and outdoor recreation. In both the discourses of female‐run outdoor adventure travel programs providing such experiences, and the leisure studies and outdoor education literatures, claims are made about the distinct social environment created on such trips and the positive outcomes for females undertaking them. Absent from these discourses is reference to empirical research exploring women's perceptions of such experiences, thereby allowing one to evaluate the merit of such claims. In what would initially appear to be an observation in a completely different vein, there is also a relative dearth of scholarly examinations within leisure and recreational studies of women's lived‐body experiences of their physicalities through active outdoor recreation, and the potentially empowering effects of them. This paper seeks to draw out the connections between these seemingly disparate observations through a qualitative examination of women's experiences of female‐only wilderness canoeing. While the reasons articulated by the women for undertaking such an experience did not explicitly identify issues related to their physicalities, clearly these issues resonated with and held implications for their experiences of them. This, in turn, provides substantiation for claims regarding the importance of the provision of all‐female outdoor experiences.     

Smoking as a fashion accessory in the 90s: conspicuous consumption,identity and adolescent women's leisure choices

Just as some species of plants and animals are endangered, some outdoor recreation opportunities are ‘endangered’ in that opportunities to participate in certain activities are becoming scarce and may eventually be permanently lost. The existence of these experiences is threatened by both alterations in the physical environment and by changing social and cultural pressures. The objective of this paper is to propose the application of ecological terms and concepts to develop a conceptual framework for managers and planners dealing with ‘endangered’ outdoor recreation experiences. Potential applications of the lexicon and conceptual approach presented in this paper are: to identify threats to the existence of opportunities for specific recreational experiences, and to provide policy-makers and planners with a systematic approach to setting priorities and developing management strategies to maintain or expand these opportunities. Such an approach may help insure the perpetuation of a diverse array of recreational experiences.     

Active engagement with nature: outdoor adventure tourism,sustainability and wellbeing

Abstract

This article draws on the conflicting arguments surrounding outdoor adventure tourism activities to determine if such activities might usefully be considered beneficial for humans and nature, and how they might offer avenues for sustainable tourism practice. Research in the field has often examined outdoor adventure activities through a lens that either highlights their negative environmental impacts or has sought to conceptualise motivations and/or experiences. In this article, we argue that through practices that are often seen as destructive, there is the possibility to think differently about human-nature relationships and pro-environmentalism. To explore these issues, we draw on data collected from a series of semi-structured interviews with outdoor adventure tourists. Our analysis highlights how outdoor adventure tourism facilitates reconnections to nature, offering potential wellbeing impacts and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. We conclude that outdoor adventure activities as a form of sustainable tourism have potential implications for our understanding of, and engagement with, sustainability, mental health and wellbeing.     

Voluntary association membership of outdoor recreationists: An exploratory study

Abstract

Research on the political activity of outdoor recreationists has focused primarily on their associational affiliations and concern for the environment. This article reviews literature on theories of collective behavior, recreation motivations, and environmental concern. The study considers outdoor recreation as a social movement and investigates relationships between incentives for voluntary membership in environmental and outdoor recreation associations, motivations for participation in outdoor recreation activities, and environmental concern. Members of associations were found to be significantly different than nonmembers on several variables including value for outdoor recreation, incentives for association membership, intellectual motivations for outdoor recreation, environmental concern, education level, and age. Results suggest that association efforts to obtain instrumental benefits, or public goods that accrue to all of society, are a primary incentive for outdoor recreationists to join voluntary associations. A common thread of intellectual pursuit distinguished members from nonmembers, suggesting that intellectual benefits may help define the relationship between outdoor recreation and associational affiliation behaviors.     

The divergence and coalescence of public outdoor recreation values in New Zealand and England: an interplay between rights and markets

Mid 19th Century English settlers in New Zealand developed a clear set of values for outdoor recreation. A small gregarious farming population used recreation for team sports and the nurturing of a ‘moral and physical health’. Work on the farm was a solitary activity. Recreation should therefore be a social one, taking place on land the rights to which were to be available to all. Developments in England from this time, by contrast, provided recreation values dominated by notions of quiet rural refreshment in manicured landscapes. These values were inextricably linked with national identity for a country with an Empire: the English landscape was the image of a spiritual home and rights over the use of this landscape became increasingly restricted over time. Contemporary national policy in both countries reinforced these distinct value systems. From the late 1970s, however, increasing globalisation has led to a coalescence of value systems for outdoor recreation. Traditional forms of outdoor activities, and the rights to pursue them, have given way to more common leisure lifestyles in both countries. These are now much more based around the home and on health and fitness, and are driven by access through the market rather than through public access rights. Public policy for outdoor recreation in both countries also has embraced this market orientation, pulling back from the centrality of the public provision of access rights.     

A Pilot Study of Motivations,Inhibitors, and Facilitators of Association Members in Attending International Conferences

Abstract

This study examined motivation, inhibitors, and facilitators of association members in attending international conferences. A survey questionnaire was used to measure the importance of those factors in influencing the subjects during the conference attendance decision process. The study revealed that opportunities for travel to overseas destinations, outdoor recreation, business or political activities, change of pace, networking, and education were important factors which motivated the respondents in attending international conferences. Perceived risks of safety, inconvenience, and unfamiliarity with overseas destinations, distance, time, money, health problems, and possible security problems of overseas destinations inhibit people from attending conferences. The respondents considered deals on overseas travel packages, opportunities to do activities with family at overseas destinations, and costs covered by their employer as important factors that facilitate their attendance at international conferences.     

World Leisure and Recreation Association International Position Statement on Leisure Education and Populations of Special Needs

Outdoor recreation may foster positive environmental views among participants and their nonparticipating household members, but little research has addressed this hypothesis at the household level. We address this gap with a case study evaluating both the individual-and household-level relationship between outdoor recreation and environmental views using the new ecological paradigm scale (NEP). Results suggest NEP relates positively to appreciative outdoor recreation participation and negatively to nonappreciative outdoor recreation participation for participants and their household members. Future research should focus on how household dynamics mediate the relationship between environmental views and outdoor recreation.     

The Participation of Children,Adolescents, and Young Adults in Nature-Based Recreation

This investigation considers the participation of children, adolescents and young adults in nature-based recreation. We draw upon the recreation narratives of forty-seven adult recreationists in the activities of tramping, angling, hunting and mountaineering, obtained from in-depth interviews. In particular, the study considers the transitions from childhood through adolescence to young adulthood, and examines how our participants maintained their participation, or alternatively, disengaged from their activity over this period. The paper provides empirical support for the role of family, and early exposure to nature based recreation in fostering enduring participation. Failing this, the role of school, club and outdoor organizational support and mentoring, right through to tertiary study was highlighted. We also identify a critical role for unstructured outdoor play for young children in nature. The paper discusses challenges for this, and for mentoring, in both formal and informal senses, as pathways into nature-based recreation in an increasingly risk averse society.     

Substitutability of recreation experience

Though it is desirable to recognize the economic worth of the activities of the recreationist, there is practical as well as philosophic cause for alarm at the implication that the value of recreation lies in the expenditure for equipment rather than on the quality of the recreational experience.

(Leopold, 1966)

This paper lays the groundwork for a new approach to substitutability which confronts a number of issues inherent in recreation planning. The concept of interchangeability, the ability to substitute with similar satisfaction experience in one natural area for experience in another, is defined. The substitutability concept in recreation research is described. Three issues are identified which have had a significant impact on recreation planning: needs and outdoor recreation, outdoor recreation and the consumer society, and environmental concern. Evidence is presented to support the concept of interchangeability and a possible approach is suggested to the study of experience in natural areas which may provide evidence to support or refute interchangeability.     

Editor's note

The relationship between work and leisure has most often been described in terms of three basic models. First, the spillover model suggests that one's choice of leisure is affected by interests and attitudes developed during work. Second, the compensation model holds that leisure choices are the opposite of one's work activities, thus providing satisfaction not realized in the work context. Third, according to the segmentation model, work and leisure are distinct life domains and do not interact. Occasionally, a fourth perspective is added: Work and leisure are mutually influential. Evidence for the first three perspectives is mixed. Moreover, there is a units‐of‐analysis problem in studying work and leisure; that is, what about work and leisure is comparable? A patterned socialization model of work and leisure that encompasses and augments these perspectives is presented in this article. Evidence from the outdoor recreation activities of a sample of workers in the machining and tooling industries of western Pennsylvania is consistent with the position that work and leisure influence each other and that both are the result of prior socialization. The units‐of‐analysis problem is solved to some extent for this group of informants by comparing their work with machines and their leisure experiences with machines. Finally, machinists who engage in more outdoor recreation activities using machines are more satisfied with their leisure, in general.     

Weather Studies in Outdoor Recreation and Nature-Based Tourism: A Research Synthesis and Gap Analysis

ABSTRACT

The impact of weather on outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism has received increasing attention from the research community during the past ten years. This article synthesizes the results of those inquiries, categorizing their predominant themes and identifying knowledge gaps. One hundred eighty-four weather-related articles drawn from a cross-section of international journals served as the foundation for this work. The research synthesis identified three recurring themes: weather-related variables that influence outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, the importance of geographic research context, and prevailing activity types. A gap analysis indicated an abundance of underinvestigated topics in weather-related studies in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism. The article concludes with recommendations for future weather-related studies in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism developed from the predominant themes uncovered in the research synthesis and research needs discovered in the gap analysis.     

Ethnicity,Acculturation, Self-Construal,and Motivations for Outdoor Recreation

Research on the leisure of racial and ethnic groups has recently been criticized for a variety of different reasons. In response to some of these concerns, this article examines the motivations of outdoor recreationists who identify themselves as being Chinese ( n = 53); it compares their motivations with those of Euro-North Americans ( n = 180) at the same outdoor setting; and it does so using the construct of self-construal as an intervening variable between ethnicity, acculturation, and motivations for outdoor recreation. According to Markus and Kitayama (1991), individuals with independent self-construals value being unique, expressing themselves, and promoting their own goals, whereas individuals with interdependent self-construals value belonging, fitting in, and promoting others' goals. Furthermore, although people in or from Western Europe and North America are more likely to have independent self-construals, people in or from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Southern Europe are more likely to hold interdependent self-construals. On the basis of the above, a series of regressions were conducted. Results suggest that (a) ethnicity does affect both types of self-construal; (b) ethnicity does affect four outdoor recreation motivations directly, although this relationship is usually, but not always, mediated by self-construal; (c) ethnicity does affect four other recreation motivations indirectly, either through the interdependent self-construal or through both types of self-construal; and (d) with Chinese respondents, acculturation did affect one recreation motivation directly and, through the independent self-construal, two other motivations indirectly.     

Activities,experiences, and environmental settings: A case study of recreation opportunity spectrum relationships

Abstract

One tenet of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) is that relationships exist between outdoor recreation activity styles, desired psychological experiences, and preferred environmental settings. The purpose of this study is to examine the nature and complexity of these relationships in light of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum conceptual model with a group of diverse outdoor recreationists. Psychometric measures were utilized to assess the desired experiences and environmental preferences of four activity preference groups. The results indicated that significant relationships do exist between the study variables. However, systematic explanations for these relationships were not clearly apparent from the results of this particular study. The existing theoretical and empirical literature base is inadequate to accurately articulate the systematic linkages between these three concepts. Further development and refinement of these relations will occur only incrementally as a growing empirical base allows for theory construction.     

Connections: Integrated Meanings of ATV Riding among Club Members in Maine

Off-highway vehicle (OHV) riding is one of the fastest growing recreation activities in the United States. Little research has examined the nature of recreational activity from the perspective of all-terrain vehicle (ATV) riders. Understanding leisure and recreation activity involves exploring how people interpret experiences and how experiences are viewed as meaningful. Nineteen semi-structured interviews with members of ATV clubs in the state of Maine provided data for analysis. The three themes that emerged are connecting with nature, others, and self. This study demonstrates that ATV riders share meanings with other types of outdoor recreationists. Future research should expand into the social aspects of ATV riding and address meanings in the context of related constructs.     

Destination diversification as an indicator of activity compatibility: An exploratory analysis

Abstract

The concept of activity packages has long been recognized as an important basis for planning outdoor recreation activities. Recent studies suggest, however, that because of definitional and methodological problems, little has been accomplished in helping park planners assess the degree to which activities can be planned together. In this study, we explore the relationship between participation in recreation activities and the number of facilities at which activity takes place. The results suggest that this relationship can be used as a reliable indicator of the degree to which recreation activities are perceived to be compatible. The analyses also suggest that households generally tend to perceive compatibility among recreation activities in the same way regardless of their socioeconomic status. The implications of these findings are considered and shown to be important within the context of park planning.     

Beyond Ethnic Stereotypes – Identities and Outdoor Recreation Among Immigrants and Nonimmigrants in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

Studies on immigrants' recreational use of greenspace have tended to focus on ethnic groups as homogeneous entities. In a qualitative study based on group interviews, this article focuses on the cultural diversity among and within ethnic groups. We used an identity perspective to study outdoor recreation of young Dutch adults with Chinese, Turkish, or nonimmigrant backgrounds. Results show that primarily personal identities, age, and ethnicity inform recreational behavior. The multiplicity of peoples' identities results in more heterogeneity between and within ethnic groups, as well as more homogeneity between immigrants and nonimmigrants, than commonly described. When immigrants are considered as a homogeneous group that underparticipates in outdoor recreation, individual immigrants who frequently participate in outdoor recreation are overlooked. Furthermore, we show that acculturation does not progress at the same rate among all ethnic groups, and that ethnic identity may be sustained among second and subsequent generations through certain recreational activities.     

Recreation research and planning in the federal republic of Germany: A commentary

Abstract

German recreation planning is strongly oriented toward the maintenance and provision of outdoor recreation areas. The rapidly growing consumption of outdoor recreation activities within a densely populated area has led to refined procedures of evaluating landuse potential and distributing outdoor facilities within environmental constraints. One such procedure is the use of attractivity models. Such models utilize a matrix of social, aesthetic, physical, and infrastructure attributes to arrive at a ranking of attractivity for given landscapes. The rankings are the basis of general landuse decisions and outdoor recreation investment procedures.