An investigation of the ways Tehran university students follow a specific life style and pass their leisure time with an emphasis on sport

Abstract

Today, people live in an industrialized and mechanized era which has provided them with a great deal of leisure time and a totally different life style. On the other hand, individuals pursue limited physical activities at their work places, settlements and most noticeably, at their leisure time. Hence, the present paper explores the ways Tehran university students follow a specific life style and pass their leisure time with an emphasis on sport and taking exercise.Methodology: To determine the ways students pass their leisure time especially on sport, we would select 830 male and female students through random-stratified sampling. In addition, in order to collect the required data, we would apply a 40-item researcher-conducted questionnaire whose validity determined using experimental research and Alpha kranbakh method(r=0.841).Findings: The research results showed that students ‘mean daily leisure time was 3.6hours which, on the basis of order of time magnitude, dedicated to watching TV, listening to music, chit chatting with friends, reading, taking exercise and working with computer, respectively.Of course, the leisure time activites like working with computer, taking exercise and listening to music were considerably favored among students.Excercise taking at leisure time ranked second and sixth for boys and girls, respectively.In addition 52.8% and 43.2% of boys and girls, respectively, wouldn’t take exercise at all.The boys preferred to get involved in sports like soccer, bodybuilding, swimming, mountain climbing volleyball and basketball,respectively; whereas the girls would prefer to take part in sports like swimming, jogging volleyball, mountain climbing, badminton and table tennis,respectively. On the other hand, the ways both male and female students would pass the leisure time like visiting their relatives,taking exercise and engaging in art and religious works, watching films and listening to music differed significantly. The main reasons as for the students inactivity were their busyness, laziness and lethargy. Also, there was a significant difference between both male and female students as to how they would pass their leisure time like visiting relatives, engaging in art and religiousworks,taking exercise,watching films and listening to music(p<0.05).Conclusions:Immobile activities make up majority of students ‘leisure time in which sport and exercise role is at a minimum. Meanwhile,cultural,social and physical factors contribute to different leisure time activities between both male and female students.As a result,to promote an active life style among students, they should be informed about the advantages of physical activities and well-being.In addition,there should be open air sport venues at campuses and green spaces devoted for students ‘physical activities.Also,based upon students ‘preferences,there can be music rooms at dorms and music shall be played in sport clubs so that students can optimally pass their leisure time.