Social and in Regional Differences Leisure in Yugoslavia

Abstract

Abstract An attempt is made to determine patterns of activities in free time, satisfaction with the way of spending leisure, obstacles to leisure and aspiration for change in different social groups characterized by sex, age, education and region. The survey is done on a representative sample of Yugoslavia in 1987. Concepts from the theory of social differentiation and Abraham Maslow's theory of motivation are used as a theoretical framework. Results show that the most frequent activities in free time are social contacts and activities connected with mass media, while the least frequent one are attending cultural institutions and other cultural- educational activities. In actual leisure patterns, most obstacles to leisure and motivational potentials are significantly correlated with sex, age, education and region. Among indicators of physical environment, material standard, family situation and health, the socialization and demographic indicators prove to be the most relevant predictors of the number of leisure activities. The number and the weight of predictor variables of leisure patterns differ from region to region; less developed regions have more relevant predictors of leisure patterns compared to more developed ones. The consequences of different behavior patterns are discussed.