Leisure activities and problem behaviours among Hungarian youth

Abstract

We examined leisure behaviours and the relationships between leisure and a variety of problem behaviours in a sample of 1422 Hungarian adolescents (age range: 14–19). Findings from multivariate analyses suggest that some aspects of adolescent leisure, such as family or conventional activities, act as protective factors against problem behaviours, while peer-oriented activities or commercial types of leisure contribute to greater risk for problem behaviours. We also found that the same leisure activities explained problem behaviours for both males and females. The study suggests that the relationships between leisure activities and problem behaviours are highly similar as found among Western youth.