Planning leisure: helpful or harmful?

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine whether planning leisure resulted in more positive outcomes among undergraduate students. Using empirical and theoretical evidence as a guide, we conducted an experiment in which we directed participants to plan a leisure activity each day for six days. We hypothesized that planning leisure would lead people to engage in leisure more frequently and, consequently, experience more positive emotion and less negative emotion. Our hypotheses were partially supported: the experimental groups did not differ in experience of positive affect; however, daily time spent in leisure was associated with higher daily positive affect. Also, people’s experience of negative affect declined over the course of the study, but people who planned their leisure declined at a lesser rate than those who did not plan their leisure. This study suggests that planning leisure does not result in positive outcomes and may be harmful. However, this study also supports the relation between engaging in leisure and experiencing positive affect.