Mainland Chinese Canadian Immigrants' Leisure Satisfaction and Subjective Well-Being: Results of a Two-Year Longitudinal Study

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine whether recent Chinese Canadian immigrants' (a) leisure satisfaction, happiness, and life satisfaction changed over a two-year period and (b) if leisure satisfaction affected their subjective well-being (SWB) over this same period. Participants completed an initial, trilingual telephone questionnaire (N = 220) and then were recontacted every six months for two years. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that leisure satisfaction decreased over the two-year period, likely because of “leisure shock,” employment of a “withdrawn” strategy, or both. The results also showed that leisure satisfaction significantly and positively affected happiness and life satisfaction. Study limitations are identified, theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future research recommendations are outlined.     

Preferred Leisure Type,Value Orientations,and Psychological Well-Being Among East Asian Youth

ABSTRACT

This study investigated preferred leisure type and its associations with value orientations and psychological well-being (PWB) among adolescents in South Korea, China, and Japan (N = 6,157). Chi-square analyses were performed to examine differences in preferred leisure type (i.e., active vs. passive) across countries. Overall, adolescents preferred passive to active leisure. A series of logistic regressions showed that students who value religion (Japanese and Korean), community (Chinese), and same-sex friends (Chinese) were more likely to prefer active leisure. Furthermore, active leisure pursuit was associated with high PWB among adolescents in all three countries. Though some of the findings support previous studies suggesting cultural differences in leisure, values, and PWB, similar patterns were observed in the associations between variables among Korean, Chinese, and Japanese adolescents.     

Leisure Constraints,Leisure Satisfaction,Life Satisfaction,and Self-Rated Health in Six Cities in Taiwan

Extensive research shows that individuals in lower socioeconomic statuses experience higher levels of morbidity and mortality than those of higher social status. This disparity remains even after lifestyle changes such as reduced smoking, improved diet, more exercise, and better access to medical care are afforded to those of lower status. According to Fundamental Social Cause Theory (FSCT), access to valued resources, including environmental, social, and psychological factors, mediates the relationship. The purpose of this study is to determine if leisure constraints, leisure satisfaction, and life satisfaction are among the variables that mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and self-rated health in six cities in Taiwan. Results indicated that leisure related variables, including leisure constraints and leisure satisfaction, mediate the relationship between SES and self-rated health. The results suggest the value of FSCT as a framework for examining the relationship of leisure related variables to health.     

Cultural Consonance in Leisure,Leisure Satisfaction,Life Satisfaction,and Self-Rated Health in Urban Taiwan

The purpose of this study threefold: to determine whether a shared cultural model of the importance of a set of leisure activities to a good leisure life existed in urban Taiwan, the degree to which cultural consonance in leisure mediates the relationship between leisure constraints and leisure satisfaction, and the degree to which leisure satisfaction affects life satisfaction and self-rated health. Results indicate that a cultural model of the importance of leisure activities to a good leisure life existed among sample members. Second, higher levels of self-reported participation in leisure activities that are culturally agreed upon as more important for a good leisure life are more strongly associated with leisure satisfaction than are activities culturally agreed upon as less important. Finally, leisure satisfaction strongly predicts both life satisfaction and self-rated health.     

The Contribution of Leisure Participation and Leisure Satisfaction to Stress-Related Growth

This study examined the contribution of leisure participation and leisure satisfaction on the experience of stress-related growth (SRG). Some types of leisure activity may be beneficial for SRG under certain circumstances. In addition, leisure satisfaction may be positively related to the stress-related growth experience. The participants of this study were 318 undergraduate students at an eastern Canadian university. The results indicated that frequent participation in civic activities and leisure satisfaction were statistically significant predictors of SRG. The findings in this study provided further evidence that positive leisure experiences and specific types of leisure activity not only help people cope with various stresses, but also facilitate growth-related changes.     

Crafting Well-Being: Meanings and Intentions of Stay-at-Home Mothers' Craft-Based Leisure Activity

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the meanings of and intentions behind craft-based leisure activities among stay-at-home mothers. The study attempts to shed light on the meanings of craft in relation to the participants’ and their families’ well-being. This qualitative study was based on the written narratives of 34 stay-at-home mothers, ages 23–40. The meanings of craft-making was described by home centeredness, items as personal fingerprints, mental resources, personal growth and identity, and social relationships. The intentions behind crafting were to help the stay-at-home mothers escape their daily worries, to pursue craft as a form of enjoying their family-centric life, and to enhance self-realization without the added stress of having to do so while negotiating their family's needs. The findings revealed that although the participants’ intentions were to enhance their subjective well-being, they in fact reflected their concern for the well-being of their families.     

Testing a Structural Model of Psychological Well-Being,Leisure Negotiation,and Leisure Participation with Taiwanese College Students

A theoretically constructed model combining psychological well-being, negotiation, and participation was tested using structural equation modeling on Taiwanese college students (N = 464). The results provided partial support for the proposed model in that the autonomy and self-acceptance dimensions of psychological well-being had significant positive effects on negotiation strategies. However, contrary to predictions, the personal growth and purpose in life dimensions had significant negative effects on college students’ use of negotiation strategies. Developing a psychological profile of successful negotiation among college students using this framework may aid in predicting who will activate their negotiation efforts, and thus enhance the effectiveness of interventions for health promotion.     

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.     

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.     

Leisure Involvement,Job Satisfaction,and Service Performance among Frontline Restaurant Employees

The importance of employee leisure involvement to employee service performance has been suggested but not tested in the literature. This study closes this research gap by inspecting the direct consequence of leisure involvement on service performance and leisure involvement’s indirect effect on service performance via job satisfaction for frontline service employees. This study uses a sample of 313 restaurant employees collected from Bandung, Indonesia. The proposed model is tested using variance-based SEM-PLS. The results show the importance of leisure involvement as a determinant of frontline service performance. Moreover, this study reveals that the effect of leisure involvement on service performance is partially mediated by job satisfaction. The conceptual and practical significance of these results are reviewed.     

Cultural Commonality and Specificity in Japanese and Euro-Canadian Undergraduate Students' Leisure Experiences: An Exploratory Study on Control and Positive Affect

Accumulated cross-cultural research indicates that North Americans typically emphasize primary control (e.g., changing the environment) and high-arousal positive affect (e.g., enthusiasm), whereas East Asians typically emphasize secondary control (e.g., adjusting oneself, accepting the environment) and low-arousal positive affect (e.g., calmness). Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory experience sampling method study was to examine cultural similarities and differences in Japanese (n = 41) and Euro-Canadian (n = 15) undergraduate students' control and positive affect as leisure experience. Results indicated that during leisure versus non-leisure participation, (a) both Japanese and Euro-Canadians experienced primary control and high-arousal positive affect more and secondary control (acceptance) less, and (b) Japanese alone experienced secondary control (adjustment) and low-arousal positive affect more. This cross-cultural study contributes to the leisure studies field, both theoretically and practically, by identifying cultural commonality and specificity in leisure experiences as well as leisure's potential role in enhancing psychological well-being.     

The Effects of Ethnicity and Leisure Satisfaction on Happiness,Peacefulness, and Quality of Life

The purpose of this study was to examine how ethnicity and leisure satisfaction affected people's happiness, peacefulness, and quality of life. A trilingual telephone survey of Chinese/Canadians (N = 261) and British/Canadians (N = 258) was conducted. Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that sex had no significant effect on any regressors. Ethnicity significantly affected standard of living, achieving in life, and life as a whole. Overall leisure satisfaction significantly affected happiness, peacefulness, and all nine quality of life domains. Canonical correlations also showed that happiness and achieving in life were positively correlated for British/Canadians and happiness and personal relationships were positively correlated for some Chinese/Canadians. Peacefulness was positively correlated with spirituality/religion and community connectedness, but negatively correlated with personal relationships, for some Chinese/Canadians. Implications and research recommendations are provided.     

Dyadic Exploration of the Relationship of Leisure Satisfaction,Leisure Time,and Gender to Relationship Satisfaction

The stress suppressing model proposes that sufficient resources reduce stress. The stress exposure model suggests that certain factors expose individuals to more stress. The current study tested these two models by assessing the within-person lagging effect of leisure time on perceived severity of daily stressors. Analyzing eight-day diary data (N=2,022), we found that having more leisure time than usual on a day reduced perceived severity of daily stressors the next day and that the decrease in severity became larger with further increase in leisure time. Additionally, the effect is much stronger among busy individuals who usually had little leisure time. The findings demonstrated an accelerated suppressing effect that differed between-person, and the lagging effect affords stronger implication for causality than correlational analysis.     

休闲与生活质量关系的量化考察:国外研究进展及启示

参与休闲活动能够提高人们的生活质量,这是国内学界普遍认同的观点.然而这个观点更多地是从逻辑推演而来,还缺乏实证的量化考察.对休闲与生活质量关系的量化考察,涉及主客观两类指标的设置;而其最终价值在于帮助决策者制定和调整相关政策,采取有效措施,从而全面改善居民的休闲状况,提高其生活质量.     

The Effects of Depression on Leisure: Varying Relationships Between Enjoyment,Sociability, Participation,and Desired Outcomes in College Students

Depression leads to negative mood and affect, difficulty experiencing enjoyment in chosen activities (anhedonia), and a reduced desire for social interaction. This study compared 974 college students with different levels of depression (minimal, mild, and moderate to severe) relative to their desired outcomes for leisure, and their enjoyment of, participation and sociability in, different types of chosen leisure activities. Findings indicated consistency in their desired outcomes students, yet there were differences in how social they chose to be, the extent to which they partook, and how much enjoyment they perceived during their leisure participation. In addition, in several activities only a mild state of depression was sufficient to produce differences in leisure involvement. The results question whether depressed individuals experience “leisure” in the same manner as nondepressed individuals and whether elements of “leisure” experiences stressing enjoyment and sociability are applicable for individuals with differing levels of nonclinical depression.     

The Core and Balance Model of Family Leisure Functioning: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

In the past 15 years, the Core and Balance Model of Family Leisure Functioning has emerged as a focus in family leisure research. This body of work has demonstrated that family leisure involvement is consistently a significant predictor of elements of family well-being from multiple perspectives in the family, and among a variety of family types. A closer examination of this work reveals a more complex interrelationship between family leisure involvement and well-being and calls for further refinement and testing of the model. A systematic review of this body of work was conducted with the goals of offering a summary of findings, a revised graphic of the model, strengths, limitations, and recommendations for future work. Nineteen peer-reviewed journal articles, nine research abstracts, and one dissertation were reviewed.     

Reputation,subjective well-being,and environmental responsibility: the role of satisfaction and identification

Based on signaling theory, this study investigates how the perceived reputation of a destination impacts the environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) and subjective well-being (SWB) of tourists through satisfaction and identification with a destination, respectively. The findings support the proposed behavioral model. A total of 539 valid questionnaires were obtained from tourists to a natural ecology and historical culture destination in China and analyzed. The results show that destination reputation has a direct impact on tourists' satisfaction and identification with the destination. Satisfaction and identification with the destination both partially mediate the effect of perceived destination reputation on tourists' ERB and SWB. Findings suggest that enhancing perceptions of a destination's reputation is an important step in increasing tourists' SWB and strengthening their engagement in ERB. Discussion of the findings, research implications, and future research directions are provided.     

中国乡村度假开发与管理初探

本文第一次论述了开展乡村度假的现实意义、开发乡村度假的基本要求和管理重点,对把乡村旅游推向新的发展阶段,建设社会主义新农村有一定理论价值和现实意义。     

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.     

旅游地顾客满意度测评指标体系的研究及应用

市场的竞争力来自顾客的满意度。本文根据旅游业的“食、住、行、游、娱、购”6要素特点。运用美国密歇根大学质量研究中心费耐尔(Fomell)教授的顾客满意度指数理论，构建旅游地顾客满意度指数测评的因果模型(Tourism Destination Customer Satisfaction Index，简称TDCSI)和旅游地顾客满意度测评指标体系，并对其进行了实证检验，证明该模型和指标体系较为科学、合理和可行。