Favorite Leisure Activities Research Articles

Parental Perceptions of Electronic Media Use by Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Non-Referred Children in Greece

<p style="text-align: justify;">Television watching and video/computer playing are favorite leisure activities among children and adolescents. Individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have several special characteristics in relation to attention and impulsivity compared with non-ADHD individuals. This study investigates parental perceptions of electronic media use among children and adolescents with ADHD and a control group. A total of 54 participants with ADHD and 51 controls aged 7-15 years old took part in the study. A questionnaire was constructed to collect quantitative data from parents. ADHD children tend to spend more time per day on electronic devices compared to non-referred children. Age but not gender seemed to affect the frequency of children’s media play. Inattention, anxiousness and disorganization are more common in the ADHD group in activities such as reading, doing homework, doing sports or playing with toys in comparison to media activities. Parents of both groups worry a lot about their child’s habits of videogame playing. Finally, parents of ADHD children recognize some of the benefits of videogames in the areas of memory, attention and motivation but not in the academic area. In conclusion, the present study highlights important aspects of the topic of media use by children with ADHD as well as risk factors to take into account. </p>

Leisure of the elderly Brazilian: the southeast in focus

PurposeThis paper is an excerpt from a countrywide study entitled “Leisure in Brazil: representations and realizations of daily experiences”, which aims to investigate what Brazilians do in their leisure time, what they would like to do and why they do not do it.Design/methodology/approachSpecifically, in this paper, the authors analyze data referring to the elderly population from southeastern Brazil. Sampling of the national survey comprised representative quotas of the population, considering region and state, and, in each state, quotas of sex, age, education level and family income, according to data obtained by IBGE in 2010. A total of 2,400 interviews were conducted in total. For the present study, the 91 interviews conducted with elderly subjects from the Southeast region of Brazil were considered.FindingsThe majority of participants understand leisure as a time for resting and fun and have physical/sports interests as their favorite leisure activity during the week. On weekends, social and tourism interests stand out, and idleness stands out in the preference of this public during the holiday period. Lack of time and financial resources are the main barriers to the access to and permanence in the desired leisure practices.Originality/valueHaving knowledge of the relationship between leisure and aging in Brazil is a way to contribute to the potential of this stage of life, based on the quality of life and continued learning provided by the content they enjoy.

Cultural and leisure practice transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic

The present work analyzes the changes in cultural and leisure practices during the COVID-19 pandemic on the basis of Russian and foreign social research results. The data on individual profound interviews with the post-Soviet youth presenters about their daily practices and adaptive strategies in the lockdown circumstances performed by the author are presented. It is noticed that the lockdown restrictions and self-isolation regime have opened new interesting opportunities in leisure and creative activities (quite often involving on-line technologies) for many residents in Russia and in the foreign countries that allowed them to improve their previous skills or learn something new. Part of the respondents have acquired online practices in their favorite leisure activities: educational, communication, creative etc., which they also would prefer to keep doing in their lives after the pandemic. The method specifically developed for the purposes of the author research is an undeniable novelty. The findings provide an opportunity to reflect on the personal and social resources that help adapt to the realities of the post-COVID world, give the answer to the question of whether young people’s experience of the new coronavirus everyday life can benefit older generations, and contribute to the development of the new sociological field — the sociology of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is observed that despite many negative consequences caused by the pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic produced a recovery in public cultural and leisure life that may be regarded as a positive emergent effect. In general, we can see significant changes in cultural and leisure practices under the impact of the coronavirus crisis. The trend towards active cultural consumption is likely to continue with time.

Development of Educational Math Game

The game is an entertainment activity where people who start with the history of humanity have a good time in their spare time. Thanks to the innovations offered by technology in the digital age, people spend their free time in virtual environments. These virtual environments are social media, news sites, video channels as well as digital games. While digital games are a favorite leisure activity for adults, young people are more likely to spend time with digital games. The educational-themed preparation of games, which are currently indispensable leisure time activities for young people, enables them to learn while having fun. It is important to develop educational digital games and present them to young people in accordance with learning. With this awareness, an educational game with mathematical operations activities was developed in the research. In the study, the developmental research method, one of the design-based research method derivatives, was used. In the research, game development stages and mechanics are explained in detail, and the technologies used are presented.

THE INFLUENCE OF BODY INDEX MASS ON THE LEISURE TYPES FOR THE STUDENTS OF THE FACULTY OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS

The study aims to investigate the ways of spending free time for a group of 180 students of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports in Galati (years 1, 2 and 3 of cycle 1 / bachelor’s degree studies, with an average age of 22.34 ± 5.79 years.), by using a questionnaire-based survey, structured on 4 distinct factors: leisure time budget, causes limiting leisure time, favorite leisure activities and leisure sports activities. The purpose of the research is to determine the perception of students of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports on how to spend free time and determine differences of opinion, depending on BMI / body mass index, by dividing them into 3 groups (underweight, normal weight or overweight). Results: The analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicates significant influences of the independent variable on the response values for the following items (F <.05): inaccessibility of going out with friends, stress generated by shopping, limiting free time to help others, spending free time with entourage and life partner, spending holidays in the country, etc. Socializing on the internet, physical sports activities, TV, internet and computer games, going out with friends are the preferred options for students, and reading gets low scores. The differences between groups (in most cases insignificant) however, signal that normal weight students watch TV and the Internet the least, but waste more time with commuting and household activities and have high scores when involved in most sports. Overweight people have low scores for time spent on favorite activities, are most dissatisfied with time management, work more overtime, spend less time with those around them, but prefer to spend time with their life partner or alone, have slightly better scores for reading and music auditions, get the lowest scores for involvement in most sports activities, but have high satisfaction generated by physical effort. Underweight students perceive the inaccessibility of going out with friends more strongly, are more affected by difficult homework, have a higher level of stress for reading, but perceive most other activities as less stressful, socialize more on the internet, prefer jogging and cycling / rollerblading as sports activities. Swimming is selected by all groups as indicated for optimizing health and ensuring body harmony, even if its practice is deficient, and contact / combat sports are indicated as the most risky for physical integrity. Keywords: active and passive leisure, lifestyle, physical and mental health, opinions, accessibility

How do pediatric patients perceive adverse drug events of anticonvulsant drugs? A survey

Anticonvulsant drugs have a high risk of adverse drug events. Little is known about the perception of those events by pediatric patients. We performed a survey in the neuropediatric departments of two university hospitals. Using a questionnaire, we interviewed patients aged 6–18 years with current anticonvulsant treatment regarding (i) their fears about potential adverse drug events, (ii) experienced adverse drug events, and (iii) perceived burden of experienced adverse drug events. One hundred patients took part in the interview. (i) 40 (40%) expressed fears that the medication could harm them. Eighteen of 40 (45%) named fears concerning specific adverse drug events. Of those, 12/18 (67%) feared neurologic or psychiatric symptoms. (ii) 37 (37%) of children described altogether 60 experienced adverse drug events. Of those, 38 (63%) concerned neurologic or psychiatric symptoms. (iii) 32/37 (82%) children who experienced adverse drug events felt bothered by the experienced event. Among others, they described an emotional burden (11/37, 30%), and restrictions in school performance (8/37, 22%) and favorite leisure activities (4/37, 11%).Conclusion: School-aged children are well able to describe adverse drug events of their anticonvulsant medication. Almost two thirds of the described events concern neurologic or psychiatric symptoms that cause an emotional burden and restrictions according to the patients.What is Known:• Anticonvulsants have a high potential of adverse drug events.• In an earlier survey, parents expressed fears of severe adverse drug events such as liver failure, which seldom occur, and reported a high number of neurological and psychological adverse drug events.What is New:• Many children fear that their anticonvulsants could harm them, and they fear and experience neurological and psychological adverse drug events.• According to the children, adverse drug events cause an emotional burden and restrictions in school performance and favorite leisure activities.

Motivate AAC Switch Practice With Smart-Home Tech

Motivate AAC Switch Practice With Smart-Home Tech

Identificação de comportamentos alimentares, tempo em frente à televisão e atividades físicas de adolescentes

Objetivo: Identificar os comportamentos relacionados aos hábitos alimentares, às atividades físicas, ao tempo em frente à tela de televisão (TV) e ao deslocamento ativo de adolescentes. Métodos: Estudo transversal, realizado em escola estadual do município de Praia Grande, Santa Catarina, Brasil. A amostra foi composta por 86 adolescentes, de ambos os sexos, com idade entre 14 a 19 anos, matriculados no ensino médio. O instrumento de pesquisa utilizado foi elaborado a partir da composição de indicadores validados, composto por 30 perguntas objetivas sobre dados sociodemográficos, hábitos alimentares e de atividades físicas, deslocamento ativo e tempo em frente à tela. Os dados foram tabulados no SPSS, versão 21.0, avaliando frequência absoluta, relativa, média, desvio padrão, teste t de Student e correlação “r” de Pearson, adotando-se o nível de significância de 95% (p≤0,05). Resultados: Dos 86 adolescentes, 40,7% relataram que raramente consomem uma dieta balanceada, 53,5% têm como lazer preferido as atividades físicas, 33,7% deslocam-se a pé para a escola e 31,4% utilizam a bicicleta. Referente ao tempo em frente à tela, meninos têm maior exposição (8h e 10h) do que as meninas (5h e 6h) em dias de semana e finais de semana, respectivamente. Conclusão: As características geográficas, as atividades físicas habituais e a segurança pública contribuem para um estilo de vida saudável no contra turno, exceto nos hábitos alimentares, indicando a necessidade do estabelecimento de estratégias que estimulem nesses jovens a adoção de hábitos saudáveis de vida.

Temporary communitas and willingness to return to events

Attending sport, music and cultural events is a favorite leisure activity, thus creating multi-billion dollar markets. Existing research on what drives repatronage of such events has focused on individual-based variables such as satisfaction. This research highlights the relevance of consumer-consumer interaction for attendees' willingness to return to an event in the future. Results from two field studies show that temporary communitas—a temporary sense of closeness and camaraderie among event attendees—is a driver of willingness to return and that, surprisingly, its impact on willingness to attend the event again even surpasses that of satisfaction with the event. The positive effect of increasing temporary communitas disappears, however, when perceived crowding at an event becomes too high.

Pattern of video game use in children with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder and typical development.

Video game playing is a favorite leisure activity among children worldwide. Individuals with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often lack self-control, making them at risk for substance abuse and game addiction. There are conflicting results, however, between studies on the pattern of video gaming and game addiction between those with ADHD and healthy controls. We therefore compared the pattern of video game use and game addiction between Thai children with ADHD and healthy controls. A total of 80 participants with ADHD (median age, 9.5years) and 102 controls (median age, 10years) were recruited in this study. ADHD was diagnosed by a developmental pediatrician. Each control subject's teacher completed the ADHD questionnaire to ensure that they did not have the diagnosis of ADHD. Pattern of video game use and Game Addiction Screening Test (GAST) were completed by participants' parents. More than half of the children with and without ADHD spent >2h/day playing video games rather than engaging in other age-appropriate leisure activities, particularly on weekends. Participants with ADHD, however, had a higher rate of compulsive video game use than controls (37.5% vs 11.8%, P < 0.001). Although video game playing was relatively prevalent in children regardless of ADHD status, those with ADHD had a higher rate of problematic video game use than controls. The pattern of leisure activities including video game use should be assessed during health supervision visits. As such, those at risk for game addiction could be identified early, resulting in appropriate intervention.

A traveling memory based upon location-based services and social network sites

Traveling is a favorite leisure activity. People always take notes, photos, or videos to remember while traveling. But few of them make travel records completely and continuously. One possible reason is that it is difficult to record, in meticulous detail, traveling; another one is that tourists lack proper tools to facilitate collecting and organizing traveling records. The popularity of smart mobile devices provides a convenient approach for organizing travel records. In this paper, a traveling memory (TM), based upon location-based services and social network sites is introduced. It adopts check-in service in Facebook to let travelers easily collect travel information, and then upload to the TM application. With this application, travelers can select, organize, and share their traveling information. Upon completion of system development, the system usability scale approach was adopted to evaluate system usability. The result shows that travelers have favorable responses to the system.

Monetary and non-monetary efforts for leisure activities

Getting to and staying at a destination entails effort in terms of both monetary and non-monetary costs. This study analyzes how the “individual predisposition to make an effort to get to and stay at a destination” varies depending upon the desire to do different leisure activity patterns at and away from home, as well as distinct socio-demographics and accommodation types. Thus, the paper focuses on these questions: to what extent are people predisposed to incur these costs in order to have the opportunity to do new leisure activities that they do not do at home, or to do the same favorite leisure activities they do at home, but more frequently? Also, are either of these behaviors contingent upon the type of activity? The results show that different predispositions exist per participation-frequency scenario (activity pattern) and per type of leisure activity.

Focus on Authors

Focus on Authors

¡¡¡Oiga, oiga ... tiene Vd. la puerta abierta!!!

Te imaginas sentado en el sofá del salón de tu casa, a las diez de la noche, tranquilamente, en zapatillas, disfrutando de la intimidad de tu hogar y de tu actividad de ocio preferida, y que apareciera un joven, bien parecido, que, muy amablemente te "hiciera el favor" de avisarte ¡Oiga, oiga, que tiene Vd. la puerta abierta!.Supongo que el susto sería morrocotudo. No estoy muy segura de que agradecieras el "favor". Todo lo que puedo imaginar que dirías roza el límite de lo que reproducir por escrito aquí resultaría grosero.

Special Issue on Ubiquitous Games

Computer games have grown during recent years into a popular entertainment form with a wide variety of game types and a large consumer group spread across the world. An increasing number of people are playing electronic games, placing them among other favorite leisure activities. When surveyed on the most fun entertainment activities in the year 2000, 35 percent of all Americans identified computer and video games, where watching television fell second at 18 percent, followed by surfing the internet (15%), reading books (13 %) and going to the movies (11%) [8]. On-line gaming has offered people new means of having social interaction with people in faraway locations and let them access and play out fantasy-driven identities they are unable to manifest in the real world [12]. In 2002, the percentage of frequent game players that play games online rose to 31 percent up from 24 percent the year before [8]. Within the games, or through the use of websites based around the games, dedicated and long-lived communities have formed which have created new content, sometimes leading to commercial ventures. Electronic game play, however, is not limited to home use. Game parlors and LAN parties are becoming a popular means to play online games. Also, 37 percent of Americans who own game consoles (or computers used to play games), report that they also play games on mobile devices such as PDAs and mobile phones [8]. The popularity of computer games has thus not only made them important carriers of culture and trends but also a financially interesting area. They also function as a vehicle for the development and deployment of new hardware, software and user interface techniques. According to Interactive Digital Software Association (www.idsa.com), the computer and video game software industry in the US generated $6.35 billon in sales from 225 million units in 2001 (up 7.9% and 4.5% from 2000 respectively). In the same year in the US, movie box office grosses were $8.41 billion [8]. In the UK in the year 2000, the entertainment software industries grossed £300 million more than the UK cinema box offices and almost double that of home video rentals [3]. The world entertainment software market is estimated to be almost $18 billion and to grow to $26.7 billion by the year 2005 [3]. Computer games are some of the applications available to the general public that have the very highest demands on ease-of-use, engagement, and aesthetical appearance. These demands have made developers of computer games use the latest techniques within artificial intelligence, multimedia, computer graphics, computer simulation, and human-computer interaction to be competitive against other games developers. For example, recently IBM, Sony, and Toshiba have partnered on creation of the ‘Cell’. The Cell is a unique type of computer processor that contains several types of computing cores that are optimized for one type of task (e.g. communications, video processing). These processing cells can be interconnected to optimize a specific task [11]. This exciting research has not been driven for use in supercomputers, or high-end business PCs, but for use in the Playstation, a gaming console.

Triumph Out of the Wilderness

Beginning teachers can always tie up their students, as Ms. Kramer's father suggested. But having good mentors to new teachers the ropes works better, she says. ONE OF THE pearls of wisdom that my father imparted to me on my first day of teaching was, could always tie them He went on to dazzle me with other forgettable bits of knowledge, always with my best interests in mind. It's amazing that five years have passed since then, and the only thing took from his well-intentioned advice was that could never really use any of it in the classroom! How wished and prayed that someone would show me the ropes. was lucky that my school assigned me a mentor and that found some peers who mentored me as well. A wonderful assistant principal was my official mentor. A biology teacher and a second-grade teacher (my mother) also took time out of their busy days to give me great advice. To be honest, if it hadn't been for probably wouldn't be teaching today. There are many new teachers today who aren't as fortunate as was. They are fighting through the wilderness of the classroom alone and finding that their college or university training hasn't really prepared them for the reality of the classroom - the discipline, the paperwork, and the lack of time and social life. New teachers need effective mentors who will help them navigate these speed bumps in the career path. There is no one better than an enthusiastic, experienced colleague to help a beginner succeed in the classroom. Now in my fifth year of teaching high school Spanish, reflect on my own experience of being mentored. was fresh out of college and recently employed by a high school in my hometown of Wausau, Wisconsin. Of course, my college spent numerous hours preparing me to make use of current pedagogy, methods, and all manner of theoretical lesson plans. But it still didn't completely fortify me for the reality of the classroom. walked in on the first day with a sheaf of papers that proclaimed the correct way to teach. But had no information on how to deal with that student sporting the green hair - the one sprawled listlessly in a back-row desk. This kind of information came from my mentor and from other teachers who supported and believed in me. They offered me wonderful treasures of knowledge and tips. Let the students see the real you - the one who makes mistakes and can get over them, they told me. can't command respect, but you can earn it, they reminded me. That was a hard one to learn. You see, my natural tendency was to teach the way the majority of my teachers had taught, with a must follow lesson plan and textbook discipline. How quickly abandoned that course of action! began to let my sense of humor up in my classroom. If the students can see me as a real person, reasoned, then they will be less likely to act without regard to my feelings. shared some cartoons from The Far Side and some facts about my favorite leisure activities with the students, and could practically see their ears perking right up. Here was someone who actually left the school building on the weekend and even went to the football game on Friday! They loved it. In a relatively short time, was able to teach with less hassle from the students. Of course, there were still challenges, and the students were still ready to test limits on occasion. (How is it that they always know you're a first-year teacher?) was still living with my parents that first year, so compared experiences with my mom. She taught second grade in the same district and had been doing so for more than 15 years, so knew she would be a sympathetic ear. Yeah, right! I don't know why you want to teach high school, she often proclaimed. Don't the kids drive you nuts? Look at you! would reply vehemently. I couldn't handle 25 running, screaming, frantic second-graders. And so our verbal battles began. …

The Appeal of "Kaidan", Tales of the Strange

Kaidan are tales of the strange and mysterious, often considered by contemporary Japanese to be frightening ghost stories. During the Edo period (1600-1867), kaidan enjoyed great popularity. Gatherings called hyakumonogatari kaidankai (Gatherings for One Hundred Kaidan Tales), in which people told one hundred stories to induce a supernatural phenomenon, were common among all classes of people. The popularity of oral-derived literature, which reflected the popularity of kaidan, reached a peak in the middle of the eighteenth century. Kaidan told orally and in print were a favorite leisure activity for people living in Edo Japan. The A. attempts to elucidate the appeal of kaidan in the Edo period as a leisure activity that provided entertainment to the Japanese with (1) frightening parody, (2) explanations for the inexplicable events in daily life, (3) exoticism, and (4) mild criticisms of social and political institutions.

Leisure and Delinquency

This paper derives and tests eight hypotheses regarding the relationship between leisure and delinquency. These hypotheses focus on 1) type of leisure activity (e.g., sports versus hobbies), 2) with whom the leisure activity is performed, and 3) the extent to which the leisure activity is liked by the respondent. Data from a random sample of 600 adolescents in a major metropolitan area indicate that delinquency is positively related to time spent in 1) unsupervised social activities, 2) leisure activities with peers, and 3) least favorite leisure activities with parents. Delinquency is negatively related to time spent in 1) organized leisure activities, 2) passive entertainment, and 3) noncompetitive sports. These data suggest that future research on delinquency should give more attention to leisure activities.

The Meanings of Leisure

W ITH modern social trends, the time which people have for leisure activities is tending increase. This phenomenon has come be of concern those who feel that people may not be equipped make the most satisfying use of their leisure. The problem is a particularly pertinent one as retirement age tends fall, but is not unimportant at earlier stages of life. Empirical studies of leisure activity have tended concentrate on the allocation of available time various types of activity with the relative neglect of dynamic variables related motivations behind the choice of leisure activities or satisfactions which such activities afford. The aim of the present study is find out about the meanings that people perceive in their leisure activities, and how these meanings are related the content of age, sex, social class, and personality characteristics. The approach used is ask people what their favorite leisure activities are and what satisfactions they get from these activities. The expression of a felt satisfaction or a reason for carrying on a particular leisure activity, such as watching television, or gardening, is called a meaning. Thus the definition of a of leisure, as here used, is what the actor says a favorite activity means him in terms of the satisfactions he gets from it. What we did was study the meanings attributed their favorite leisure activities by a sample of people. A spontaneous choice of favorite activity, together with the satisfactions derived therefrom, afforded salient responses at the behavioral level. A related study of leisure has been reported by one of the authors,' in which the two favorite leisure activities of people were analyzed in terms of a set of variables. Significance was a general term applied a set of 19 variables which are assumed be characteristic of leisure activity and which presumably have some personal and social significance. In this case the significance variables were defined by the research team and were applied by means of rating scales the interviews in which the respondent talked about his favorite leisure activities and what they meant him. Thus was what a reader of the interview assessed as characteristic of a leisure activity for a particular person, while was the kind of satisfaction the person himself said he obtained from a leisure activity. Some of the meaning and significance variables were quite similar (e.g., creativity was a significance variable and to be creative was a meaning variable) while others were not parallel. There were two principal hypotheses be tested: 1. Meanings are systematically related the content of preferred leisure activities. 2. Meanings are systematically related age, sex, social class, and personal characteristics. A third and subordinate hypothesis was that adults in New Zealand and the United States would find similar meanings in their favorite leisure activities.