Leisure Career Research Articles

Perspectives of Endurance Athletes' Spouses: A Paradox of Serious Leisure

ABSTRACTAmateur endurance sports have been widely couched as serious leisure. However, to date there has been a lack of research exploring impacts of serious leisure on athletes' spouses. Adopting a grounded theory approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 spouses of endurance athletes in Australia who regularly competed in distance running, triathlon, and/or adventure racing events. Spouses adopted a support role for their athlete spanning day-to-day life and event contexts. They endured their athlete's frequent absenteeism, which evoked a range of interrelated stressors. Stressors, however, were counteracted by an array of perceived benefits such as enriched family lives. We theorize endurance sport serious leisure careers as paradoxical cycles in which athletes and their spouses tolerate significant stressors offset by powerful benefits sustaining such careers in the longer term.

대학생의 여가제약이 여가기능 및 진로정체감에 미치는 영향

대학생의 여가제약이 여가기능 및 진로정체감에 미치는 영향

대학생의 여가기능이 여가제약 및 진로준비행동에 미치는 영향

대학생의 여가기능이 여가제약 및 진로준비행동에 미치는 영향

A model for achieving short-term and long-term goals in a leisure career

This article proposes a theoretical model for achieving short-term and long-term goals in a leisure career. A previous model illustrating the process between constraints, negotiation, motivation, and participation, as well as modifications made by other researchers, inspired the development of this model. The model illustrates how short-term negotiation strategies could be used to achieve short-term goals, which may also build up to the achievement of long-term goals, and how long-term negotiation strategies could be used to achieve long-term goals. The model is applied to the context of amateur athletes pursuing sport as a leisure career to demonstrate the progression through the stages of the model.

The Temporal Phases of Leisure Experience: Expectation, Experience and Reflection of Leisure Participation

ABSTRACTWhile there have been studies whereby the methodology relied on evaluations of pre-, during, and postparticipation experiences, it is far more common that research on leisure does not consider the temporal phases of a leisure experience. Further, many of the studies that have attempted to encompass the multiple temporal phases of experiential leisure involvement have not focused on participants who had established significant leisure careers or long histories of recreation participation in a singular activity. The purpose of this study was to explore the temporal phases of a leisure experience in the context of individuals' in situ attendance at a niche music performance. These phases consisted of participants' expectations before the event, the actual experience during the event, and the memory of that experience after its completion. Because participants wanted to feel in control of their lives, personal reassessments and the prioritization of positive events sought to emphasize the value of their agency. Researchers found that the reconstruction of memory drives desire for future participation as well as the associative expectations of what is to come.

대학생의 여가참여유형과 여가만족, 진로성숙과의 영향관계 연구

대학생의 여가참여유형과 여가만족, 진로성숙과의 영향관계 연구

Professionalized consumption and identity transformations in the field of eSports

Professionalized pursuits have been theorized to offer durable benefits to consumers, such as a sense of self-actualization and identity development. In a situated investigation of an organized and competitive approach to playing computer games, labeled as “electronic sports” or “eSports,” we explore the social world and self-concept dynamics underlying this form of consumer behavior. The findings highlight that professionalized pursuits can be conceived as distinct fields of cultural production, characterized by the unique ethos that juxtaposes this form of consumption against both casual leisure and work. Furthermore, the consumer transformations within these fields occur by embarking on a serious leisure career, through which the consumer journeys away from the mainstream culture toward becoming a skilled adherent of the professionalized consumption field and then toward reconciling these pursuits with other important aspects of his or her life. The paper contributes to the marketing literature by deepening our understanding of the self-concept and social dynamics resulting from participation in professionalized pursuits in the context of contemporary consumer culture. Directions for future research are also discussed.

‘Once a Local Surfer, Always a Local Surfer’: Local Surfing Careers in a Southwest English Village

This article reports on findings from an ethnographic study (2008–09) conducted in a village with a significant population of local surfers in Cornwall (Southwest England). Stimulated by Goffman's (1961) interpretation of the concept of career and elaborated by the work of Stebbins (1970) on “subjective career,” Stebbins's (1982) framework of “serious leisure” and “serious leisure career” (Stebbins, 2005), we identify moments from local surfer careers lived in this community setting. We suggest that similar to findings from other subcultural studies on sports careers the local surfing career in this context contains shared experiential stages: the nurtured stage, the possible competitive stage, the serious leisure traveller stage, the responsible stage, and the legends stage. We conclude that the shared experiences and pathways of a local surfing career can play a positive cultural role, not just for individuals but also for the construction and maintenance of local community life.

Athletes’ experiences, enjoyment, satisfaction, and memories from the Extreme Sport Week in Voss, Norway

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how experiences, sport careers and biographic variables predict: enjoyment, satisfaction and memories from the unique and spectacular Extreme Sport Week (Ekstremsportveko), Voss, Norway, as reported by the extreme sport athletes.Design/methodology/approach– An electronic questionnaire was distributed to all participants during 2011, and collected responses from 292 athletes (27 per cent response rate). Data were analysed by frequencies, mean values, correlations and multiple regression.Findings– Extreme sport athletes were typically amateurs with serious leisure careers. Social ties between participants and volunteers were found. They had positive experiences at the event, and the realms of education, aesthetics and entertainment were the strongest predictors of enjoyment, satisfaction and memories. Level of excitement augmented the explained variance, especially when predicting memories. Most participants intended to re-visit future Extreme Sport Weeks.Research limitations/implications– The moderate response rate warrants generalisations from the study. As the study is cross-sectional, cause-effect relationships cannot be established.Practical implications– For event organisers, the study shows the athletes’ appreciations with its managerial implications.Social implications– The Voss area is highly appreciated for its natural beauty and extreme sport resources, and re-visits are likely to occur, hence contributing to its growth as extreme sport venue and to sport tourism.Originality/value– This study is the first to explore the experiences of athletes who participated in the unique and spectacular event Extreme Sport Week. For researchers and practitioners, it is an example of how to measure experiences and their outcomes of (extreme sport) events.

Young People’s Early Offending

Criminology has witnessed a growth of interest in the later stages of criminal careers with less attention given to providing an understanding of the onset of offending which goes beyond identifying the precipitative or ‘risk’ factors. Drawing on findings from a study of young people’s offending careers in Ireland, this article provides a contextualized understanding of the onset of crime located in young people’s biographical experiences and transition through youth more specifically. It focuses on one particular dimension of this process, suggesting that early offending can be understood as emerging in the context of strained leisure careers. The findings also highlight the close interaction between the development of young people’s leisure careers and their experiences of the local neighbourhood and social networks. It argues that responses to the early stages of youth offending must widen their focus from the individual to incorporate an understanding of broader socio-economic and cultural contexts.

Costs and Perseverance in Serious Leisure Careers

Few studies have explored the impacts of costs on serious leisure careers. This article presents a case study of amateur athletes encountering a significant cost—cancellation of the 2012 Ironman New Zealand triathlon—and how they persevered despite this cost. Through a phenomenological research design incorporating qualitative interviews with 14 amateur triathletes, grounded theory analysis revealed that despite encountering a significant cost, athletes remained committed to their serious leisure careers. Athletes acknowledged and accepted the inherent risk of cancellation associated with outdoor sports events. Their experiences stimulated deployment of cognitive and behavioral strategies aimed at rationalizing or mitigating risk. This article contributes three theoretical propositions regarding costs encountered by serious leisure amateurs, how they persevere around costs, and concomitant impacts on serious leisure career trajectories.

Becoming a belly dancer: gender, the life course and the beginnings of a serious leisure career

Serious leisure careers have a beginning, middle and end, yet few studies examine the beginning stage of leisure careers dominated by women. Drawing from interviews with male and female belly dancers in the USA, this study examines how people join serious leisure activities. Results show that both men and women were interested in dance, arts and history, had personal ties to belly dance, and wanted an enjoyable form of exercise to match their capabilities when they entered the world of belly dance. Unlike men, the women in this study also experienced major life transitions, such as diminishing familial responsibilities, job and school issues, moving and shifting relationships. These findings have implications for the gendered nature of serious leisure.

The serious leisure career hierarchy of Australian motorcycle road racers

The academic study of motorcycle racing represents a relatively new area of research. While numerous studies have been conducted on motorcycle gangs, no studies have investigated the serious leisure world of the motorcycle racer, a sport in which motorcyclists may reach speeds in excess of 200 km/hour, with accidents likely to result in serious injury or death. A small sample of eight motorcycle road racers who, at the time of this research, were competing at the national level of the sport in Australia were interviewed by telephone with the conversations recorded for transcription and content analysis. An exploratory qualitative research design underpinned by grounded theory and involving the use of an interview schedule composed of open-structured interviews gave each rider the freedom to outline their own understandings and interpretations of how they engaged in their chosen sport. Common themes that emerged from their personal stories included a discussion of what one racer referred to as a “rider hierarchy” within the motorcycle road racing fraternity, which recognised different skills and experience levels among riders. The novice rider was placed at the bottom, entry level with the factory rider at the top. After analysis of the study data, a model was developed to describe the rider hierarchy as it was perceived by the study respondents.

The Semiotic Self and Serious Leisure

Examinations of the self and leisure are uncommon, not to mention those bearing on leisure and the semiotic self. The goal of this article is to help correct this deficiency. To this end, the serious leisure perspective is presented, followed by a discussion of how it is related to the semiotic self as formulated by Norbert Wiley. The principal vehicle by which this is accomplished is by way of the meaning of leisure. Moreover participants in serious leisure find there a powerfully attractive leisure career, an experience that is unavailable in the other two forms: casual and project-based leisure. This career frames the development of the semiotic self through leisure.

Propinquity, sociability and excitement: exploring the normalisation of sensible drug use among 15–16-year-olds in north-west England and north-east Wales

This paper explores normalised drug use as an aspect of young people's leisure careers. Qualitative data generated by 24 single-sex focus groups with 153 (85 males; 68 females) 15–16-year-olds attending seven schools in north-west England and north-east Wales revealed that young people's drug use tended to be both heterogeneous and situation specific. Indeed, rather than being actively sought out, 15–16-year-olds’ drug use was often characterised by propinquity – either in terms of place (e.g. parties), relationships (in particular, friends and peers), similarities of outlook and style (e.g. engagement in drug-oriented leisure) and time (in the sense of age cohorts) – and by sociability – especially as a means of enhancing friendships – as well as a search for pleasurable excitement in the company of others. Thus, the paper concludes that the illicit use of drugs by 15–16-year-olds can only be meaningfully understood when viewed in light of these leisure preferences that are among the social processes through which drug use can become normalised in some young people's leisure.

New class divisions in the new market economies: evidence from the careers of young adults in post-Soviet Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia

This paper presents evidence from the biographies of samples totaling 1,215 young adults in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, who all reached age 16 between 1986 and 1992, and whose subsequent life histories coincided with their countries’ transitions from communism. The evidence is used to examine whether new classes are being created in the new market economies and, if so, where the new divisions lie. Economic classes are defined as aggregates with typical and distinctive labour market and work situations. The evidence points to the creation of two such groups, a middle class and a lower class. Corresponding social differences in family and leisure careers are identified. The paper points out that these emergent class formations are different from those in the West, and gives reasons why they are less likely to become politically efficacious than were classes in the West's more mature market economies during the twentieth century.

Youth leisure careers during post‐communist transitions in the South Caucasus

This paper reports findings from interview surveys with 1215 respondents, split between the capital cities (Yerevan, Baku and Tbilisi) and one non‐capital region (Kotayk, Aran‐Mugan and Shida Kartli) in each of the three South Caucasus countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The respondents, who were drawn from households in larger representative household social surveys, were all born between 1970 and 1976 and were aged 31–37 at the time of the fieldwork in 2007. Their life stage transitions from childhood to adulthood had roughly coincided with their countries’ transitions from communism to post‐communism. Data was collected on the samples’ participation in selected leisure activities from age 16 to 30. Similar data was collected on the samples’ careers in education, the labour market, housing and family relationships. This information enables us to identify typical leisure careers and how their development was affected by events in other life domains, all in the context of the macro‐changes that were in process in each of the research locations. The evidence enables both personal leisure careers and aggregate leisure trends in different socio‐demographic groups to be identified This shows that changes in leisure behaviour between age 16 and 30 were neither widening nor narrowing the differences between the leisure of males and females, or those who married and became parents on the one hand, then, on the other, those who were still single and childless at age 30. In contrast, differences by place, and by social class, grew progressively wider, thus raising the social costs of geographical and social mobility. Changes in leisure behaviour between age 16 and 30 were separating young adults into those who participated in little, if any, structured out‐of‐home leisure, whose main leisure spending, if any, was on alcohol and tobacco (typically consumed in homes and neighbourhoods), and those whose leisure was characterised by relatively high and sustained participation in sport, consumption of high culture, and going out to bars, cafes, cinema, discos, etc.

Mixed Serious Leisure and Grassroots Organizational Capacity: A Study of Amateur Artist Groups in a Regional Australian City

This exploratory research used qualitative data from semi-structured interviews conducted with spokespeople from grassroots associations of artists who described their role, personal rewards and costs involved from fulfilling a leadership role within their group. By becoming leaders in their groups, they enjoyed community and individual benefits, accepted costs on their time and finances and persevered with demands based on their people skills. By combining the role of a participant and a helper, they became amateur-volunteers with mixed serious leisure careers. The findings identified facets of mixed serious leisure that met needs for leadership, and several successful groups were encouraged to blend amateur-volunteer careers for some members.

An examination of serious participants at the Australian Wintersun Festival

Events, such as festivals, have been identified as places in which activities are provided for participants to develop skills and build their leisure careers. This study aimed to explore the leisure and tourist behaviours of serious, and at times fanatical, participants at the Wintersun Festival in Queensland, Australia. The weeklong nostalgic celebration of music, dancing, cars and lifestyles attracts participants from distant communities to travel and participate in the activities that are integral to achieving their leisure goals. This study utilised participant observation to identify nine domains which describe and explain the behaviours of participants including specialised travel, lifestyle, identity reinforcement, pride, fanaticism, social interaction, fixated consumption, competition and skill development. The results highlight the specialised travel experience undertaken by participants and the important role of events in fulfilling their personal and social goals.

Adventure Tourism as a ‘New Frontier’ in Leisure

This paper is concerned with developing discussion around the model of serious and casual leisure, first proposed by Stebbins (1992), in relation to the emergence of adventure tourism. In particular the discussion uses the concept of ‘frontier’ to interrogate the model and its utility in understanding the apparent attractiveness of adventure sports and activities to tourism today. It is suggested that conceptually frontier is useful because of its evocation of culturally embedded ideas such as exploration, expedition and engagement with otherness which generates the potential for excitement and suggests a serious engagement in active leisure. However, by drawing upon Mortlock (1984) and others it is suggested that adventure is both subjective and variable in time and place. One important dynamic is the potential of the ‘centre’ to undermine the extraordinariness of an adventure situation through the imposition of risk management strategies and tourism infrastructure. The outcome of such developments is an inclination towards casual leisure. Thus, although adventure tourism does engage with frontier activities it also offers leisure career opportunities consistent with other aspects of tourism. It is concluded that serious and casual leisure trajectories are a mixture as active tourists move towards and then back from frontiers in an ongoing social and spatial dynamic.