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.     

Facilitating well-being at the second home: the role of architectural design

Many studies have examined the benefits of second home ownership (here taken to mean those used primarily for the purpose of leisure and recreation rather than investment), and references to such second homes as sanctuaries and places of physical and psychological rejuvenation are common. This is frequently attributed to the physical landscape and natural environment the second home is located in; it is argued that re-connecting with nature has both tangible and intangible therapeutic benefits. However, the significance of the architectural design element of second homes in facilitating a sense of well-being has been overlooked in the literature. Representations of well-being at the second home in an architectural context are examined in this study, through a thematic analysis of second home articles in New Zealand’s first architecture and lifestyle magazine (Home New Zealand) from 1936 to 2015. The paper presents evidence that design elements may enhance benefits for well-being – whether those elements are architect-initiated or in response to a design brief from the owners. Furthermore, through taking a longitudinal approach, the study finds that designing for well-being at the second home has changed over the years, from a focus on physical well-being (health) to increasing emphasis on psychological well-being.     

Designed for leisure … for all? Gendered experiences and practices of leisure at the architect designed second home

ABSTRACT

In contrast to an inherited or repurposed second home, owners are able to stipulate how their leisure practices are catered for when they employ an architect to design their second home. This longitudinal study examines gendered experiences and practices of leisure at architect designed second homes in New Zealand, through an analysis of written and visual discourse in an architecture and lifestyle magazine over a period of 80 years. The identified themes were persistent over the 80 years, but the discourses evolved through time and indicate the socio-cultural context in which they were written. The findings suggest that although the opportunity to imagine a ‘life lived differently’ exists at the second home, for the second homeowners featured in the magazine articles at least, this does not extend to gender relations. This may be in part due to the very nature of the second home, whereby it is difficult to escape the deeply ingrained gender ideologies associated with home/work, productive/reproductive dichotomies.     

Why do low-educated workers invest less in further training?

Several studies document that low-educated workers participate less often in further training than high-educated workers. This article investigates two possible explanations: low-educated workers invest less in training because of (1) the lower economic returns to these investments or (2) their lower willingness to participate in training. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, we find that the economic returns to training for low-educated workers are positive and not significantly different from those for high-educated workers. However, low-educated workers are significantly less willing to participate in training. We show that this lesser willingness to train is driven by economic preferences, and personality traits.