Serious Leisure and Recreation Specialization

Most previous research concerning serious leisure has focused on testing the nature of activities using six distinctive qualities proposed by Robert Stebbins. Viewed from a different perspective, our study treats serious leisure as a type of personal characteristic. We tested the causal relationships between serious leisure and recreation specialization. This paper describes how serious leisure has a positive relationship with recreation specialization. Having a career in a recreational endeavor, making significant personal efforts and identifying strongly with the activity are the major predictors of recreation specialization. All of the qualities of serious leisure that were evaluated with the exception of the unique ethos were found to be positively related to past experience and centrality-to-lifestyle.     

Recreation Specialization Among New Zealand River Recreation Users: A Multiactivity Study of Motivation and Site Preference

This study explored the influence of specialization and activity on motivation to participate and site preference among three activities: whitewater kayaking, multisport racing, and fishing. Subjects consisted of 270 river-based recreationists in New Zealand. MANOVA results indicate a moderate effect for activity on motives to participate and site preference and a weak effect for specialization. Inter-activity motivation and site preference differences reveal similarity between whitewater kayaking and multisport and distinct differences between these and fishing. In these data, the distinctive nature of the activity provides greater explanatory power for motivation to participate and site preference than does the specialization construct.     

Recreation Specialization and Site Choice Among Vehicle-Based Campers

Recreation specialization theory predicts that individuals will differ in their physical, management, and social setting preferences. Few studies, however, support the hypothesis that individuals choose recreation settings consistent with their level of specialization. This study examined the association between behavioral, cognitive, and affective dimensions of specialization and site choice among vehicle-based campers in Alberta, Canada. Data were collected using on-site interviews and a mail survey. Campers at unmanaged sites (no facilities and services) had higher centrality scores, had greater familiarity with the site and more experience with unmanaged sites, and a higher level of bush skill than campers at managed sites. An ordered multinomial logit model showed that the more familiar individuals were with the site and campground type, the higher the level of bush skill, and the more important and central camping was in an individual's life, the greater the probability of choosing a campground type that required a higher degree of self-reliance and decreased dependence on facilities and services. Higher household income increased the probability of camping at managed sites, suggesting that income might limit the expression of specialization by constraining choice to affordable options.     

Measuring Serious Leisure in Chess: Model Confirmation and Method Bias

The serious leisure inventory and measure (SLIM) was tested with 348 chess players to confirm the factors, assess the effects of method bias, and propose a set of the best-performing items for the 18 factor SLIM. The 54-item SLIM demonstrated acceptable fit and reliability values. The effect of method bias was evidenced in the sample and explained one-third of the variance. Inspection of factor loadings, when controlling for method bias, yielded one best-performing item per factor. Findings indicate method bias continues to be problematic for self-report measures such as the SLIM.     

Exploring Progression along the Recreation Specialization Continuum Using a Latent Growth Approach

In recreation specialization the idea of progression largely has been relegated to an assumption. Fundamental questions about how leisure participants enter and progress through social subworlds remain. We examined panel data over a six-year period to look for evidence of progression among Texas anglers. Similar to previous studies, we were unable to detect forward movement along the specialization continuum. Results revealed strong individual differences in each subdimension of the developmental process. Our study adds to this literature by treating specialization in terms of its underlying subdimensions and by demonstrating latent growth modeling as a viable alternative to repeated measure analyses.     

Serious Leisure,Life Satisfaction,and Health of Older Adults

This study explored the relationships among serious leisure, life satisfaction, and health. The study sample consisted of 454 older adults from two annual events: the 2008 Indiana Senior Olympic Games and 2008 Colorado Senior Olympic Games. Cluster analysis was used to identify distinct groups based upon patterns of serious leisure involvement. In addition, relations among life satisfaction, health, and membership in serious leisure clusters were documented. This analysis resulted in three clusters, and they were named high/medium/low involvement groups. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed to determine cluster differences in life satisfaction, physical health, and mental health. MANOVA results revealed significant differences among the clusters on dependent variables. The findings document significant heterogeneity in the expression of serious leisure involvement among the Senior Games participants. The results also suggest that there are positive relationships between level of involvement in serious leisure and life satisfaction and health.     

Serious Leisure as an Avenue for Nurturing Community

Using a communitarian framework to explore relationships between individuals and community, survey research was used to examine relationships among volunteers’ personal value orientations of individualism and collectivism, experiences of volunteering as serious leisure, and perceptions of sense of community and social cohesion. Based on survey responses from 300 current volunteers at ten voluntary organizations, findings linked collectivism and individualism to serious leisure, which in turn strongly associated with sense of community and social cohesion. In these empirical findings, serious leisure emerged as a pathway for nurturing community.     

Leisure,recreation and tourism in Western Europe

This article is partly a literature review of trends and intercountry comparisons in leisure, recreation and tourism activities in Western Europe. A wide range of conclusions is drawn, some applying to needs for public sector actions.     

The Influence of Constraints and Self-Efficacies on Participation in Regular Active Recreation

This study examined the ways in which perceived constraints and self-efficacies associated with participation in active recreation influenced Hong Kong and Australian university students' interest, intention, and participation in regular active recreation. The study indicated that perceived constraints have weak negative effects whereas self-efficacies have stronger positive effects on students' interest, intention, and participation in regular active recreation. Time efficacy, persistence efficacy, and activity efficacy emerged as important indirect motivators of active recreation engagement. The influences of constraints and self-efficacies on active recreation participation mainly occurred indirectly through adjustments in participation interest and intention.     

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.     

城市休闲与休闲城市

随着休闲概念的普及与发展,城市休闲与休闲城市建设成为城市发展的一个前沿课题.本文在研究城市休闲影响因素和城市休闲体系构建的基础上,对建设休闲城市进行了初步探索.     

Leisure in Living Local through Food and Farming

This article reflects on aligning leisure research with the local foods movement while placing the local foods movement into the larger framework of sustainability and the fields of leisure and recreation. The local foods movement has persisted during difficult economic times; growth in local foods venues and young people endeavoring to establish small-scale sustainable farms continues to flourish. Given the history of leisure research and its continued success alleviating participation barriers and constraints, the need for leisure researchers to focus on local food systems is imperative and timely. This essay highlights the notion of leisure in living through local foods and the serious leisure aspects of small-scale sustainable agriculture. This article also encourages leisure researchers to explore and assess the relationships between the local foods movement and small-scale farming as embedded in the larger framework of sustainability.     

Dynamics of Progression in Mountain Bike Racing

A major tenet of the recreation specialization framework is that people progress to higher stages of involvement over time. Results from recent studies suggest that involvement may actually be marked by stability or decline. Little is known about the extent to which people progress in outdoor activities where objective standards of performance exist. The purpose of this study was to examine the antecedents of objective and subjective progression among competitive mountain bike racers. Specialization dimensions of behavior, skill, and commitment differentiated among three classes of participants: Category 1, 2, and 3 racers. Specialization dimensions were also used to predict participants’ subjective progression in participation over the past five years and next five years. Relationships between specialization dimensions and subjective measures of progression differed with endurance skill and personal commitment being most significant. This study provides insight into the dynamics of progression, particularly in outdoor activities where objective performance standards exist.     

Understanding Differences in Nonmarket Valuation by Angler Specialization Level

Using the concept of recreation specialization, we would expect willingness-to-pay (WTP) differences among participant sub-groups as an expression of increasing commitment to their activity. To expand understanding of predictable angler sub-group differences in economic valuation, a two-stage process was used to investigate WTP differences among heterogeneous sub-groups. Cluster analysis was used with a three dimensional specialization model. A zero truncated binomial regression model was applied to estimate anglers' consumer surplus values per trip. Results supported the expectation that anglers in each group placed a different value on the social benefits associated with fishing and their concerns for possible resource loss.     

休闲产业:概念、范围与统计问题

建立我国休闲产业统计学已成为我们面临的一项重要课题.但由于对休闲产业的理解不同,目前国内学术界对休闲产业所应包括的行业范围尚未达成共识.本文在提出界定休闲产业三原则的基础上,结合国民经济三次产业划分法,将休闲产业划分为休闲第一产业、休闲第二产业和休闲第三产业.     

国内外休闲研究扫描--兼谈建立我国休闲学科体系的设想

本文全面地介绍了国内外休闲研究的发展背景、演变历程、研究现状、相关机构和代表文献，提供了一个把握休闲研究脉络和体系的图景，并就建立适合我国国情的休闲学科研究体系提出了设想。     

网络时代听力有障碍年轻群体娱乐休闲研究

随着我国休闲产业的蓬勃发展,娱乐休闲活动越来越多,但是,能够提供给残疾人的娱乐休闲活动则很少.而这一弱势群体的娱乐休闲需求长期得不到满足会直接影响其身心健康.文章选取听力有障碍年轻群体为研究对象,以这个弱势群体的沟通方式与沟通障碍、娱乐休闲对他们的作用以及网络对听力有障碍年轻群体娱乐活动的影响作为研究内容,以问卷调查、访谈和QQ聊天为手段,对北京第四聋哑学校和北京联合大学特殊教育学院的100名听力有障碍学生进行了调研.在对调研结果统计分析的基础上,依据深度休闲理论,提出针对这一弱势群体的网络娱乐和网络学习的解决方案,希望能够在满足他们娱乐休闲需求的同时,使其获得更多的就业机会.     

Progression,Stability, or Decline? Sociological Mechanisms Underlying Change in Specialization Among Birdwatchers

Using a panel of American birdwatchers collected in 1997 and 2002, we tested the extent to which birdwatchers progressed over a five-year period. The impact different career contingencies and life course events had on predicting change in birdwatchers' behavior, skill, and commitment was also examined. Findings indicated that although progression characterized some birdwatchers' participation, involvement by others was better characterized by stability or decline, which was true for each of the indicators used to measure specialization. Career contingencies and life course changes had only a moderate influence on predicting change in the specialization indicators over time. Support from family members and retirement were the best predictors of change in specialization.     

The Relationship Between Father Involvement in Family Leisure and Family Functioning: The Importance of Daily Family Leisure

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between fathers’ involvement in family leisure and aspects of family functioning from both a father and young adolescent perspective. The sample consisted of fathers and their adolescent child from 647 families throughout the United States. Results from both the father and youth perspective indicated significant relationships between father involvement in both core and balance family leisure with family cohesion, family adaptability, and overall family functioning. Satisfaction with core family leisure that included the father's involvement was the single strongest predictor of all aspects of family functioning from both perspectives highlighting the importance of regularly occurring home-based family activities such as eating dinner together, participating in hobbies and informal sports or yard activities together, watching television together, or playing board games and video games together. Discussion and implications for fathers, families, practitioners, and future research are presented.     

Older Men's Perceptions of Leisure and Aging

As the North American population ages, detailed research will be needed to understand the leisure experiences of older adults. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of leisure and aging among a sample of older Canadian men. Data were collected among 15 men aged 60–70 using individual interviews and follow-up focus groups. Data were analyzed thematically and four themes emerged: the interplay between leisure and work, the desire to “give back” to family or to the community through leisure, the individual purpose of leisure choices, and viewing constraints as a reflection of priorities rather than as barriers.