Leisure Lifestyles Research Articles

Therapeutic recreation treatment time during inpatient rehabilitation

ObjectiveFollowing spinal cord injury (SCI), certified therapeutic recreation specialists (CTRSs) work with patients during rehabilitation to re-create leisure lifestyles. Although there is much literature available to describe the benefits of recreation, little has been written about the process of inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation therapeutic recreation (TR) programs or the effectiveness of such programs. To delineate how TR time is used during inpatient rehabilitation for SCI.MethodsSix rehabilitation centers enrolled 600 patients with traumatic SCI for an observational study. CTRSs documented time spent on each of a set of specific TR activities during each patient encounter. Patterns of time use are described, for all patients and by neurologic category. Ordinary least-squares stepwise regression models are used to identify patient and injury characteristics predictive of total treatment time (overall and average per week) and time spent in TR activities.ResultsNinety-four percent of patients enrolled in the SCIRehab study participated in TR. Patients received a mean total of 17.5 hours of TR; significant differences were seen in the amount of time spent in each activity among and within neurologic groups. The majority (76%) of patients participated in at least one structured therapeutic outing. Patient and injury characteristics explained little of the variation in time spent within activities.ConclusionThe large amount of variability seen in TR treatment time within and among injury group categories, which is not explained well by patient and injury characteristics, sets the stage for future analyses to associate treatments with outcomes.

Leisure among the Retired Indos of the Hague

The ethnic mixture in Europe has been changing rapidly since the end of World War II, and many of these immigrant groups are now reaching retirement. The Netherlands is one of the countries affected in this way. This study focuses on mixed race people (Indos) originating in the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and residing in The Hague and its surrounding area. Their situation is relevant to other immigrant groups in other European countries. There are several important issues that are studied here with regard to their leisure from which a typology of Indo leisure lifestyles is developed. These issues include :1) how this group is able to avail itself of leisure activities with which its members feel comfortable during retirement and old age; 2) whether this group has integrated itself completely into the host society and feels happy in its social life; 3) whether the leisure activities of retired Indos are a way for them to keep healthy mentally and physically, thereby leading to satisfaction with life; and 4) how this particular group of people feels about its unique identity and culture after many years of living in the Netherlands.

Rafting Guides: Leisure, work and lifestyle

The division between work and leisure has long been a point of significant discussion in a variety of academic disciplines. This paper analyses the relationship between work and leisure for rafting guides, linking these topics with an overarching concept of lifestyle. This paper is based on six weeks of fieldwork conducted in Queenstown, New Zealand, where the researcher had in‐depth contact with 26 rafting guides, following their workdays and leisure activities and using informal conversations and participant observation as methods of data collection. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of how rafting guides combine leisure, work, responsibilities, friendship and hierarchy in an environment where, usually, their inner personality is reflected. While focused on rafting guides, the results of this paper have implications for understanding the complexity of the wider relationship between work, leisure, and individual lifestyle, beyond the classic dichotomy between work and leisure.

The legacy of ‘normalisation’: The role of classical and contemporary criminological theory in understanding young people's drug use

Since it began in the mid-1990s, the debate surrounding the normalisation of adolescent recreational drug use has attracted considerable attention and has tended to polarise opinion within the field. In this article two of the main protagonists in the debate come together to discuss its legacy. Focusing on the twin themes of continuity and change the authors begin by considering the relevance of early developments in the sociology of drug use, noting that this earlier work anticipated much that has recently been written on the subject, including the emphasis on hedonism and consumption in leisure lifestyles. From here they go on to critically reflect on the role that structure and agency have played in the normalisation debate, suggesting that the original thesis underplayed the role of structural influences in favour of a rational action model of adolescent drug use. In their more recent work, both authors have come to emphasise how drug use is shaped by an interplay between social structure and human agency. While some areas of disagreement remain, they agree that normalisation is best understood as a contingent process negotiated by distinct social groups operating in bounded situations.

Platform Presentation—Lifestyle Activity and the Age of Onset of Huntington Disease

Transgenic HD mouse model studies have shown that raising mice in an enriched environment delays the onset of symptoms, leading us to consider whether pre-morbid lifestyle may affect age-at-onset in humans. Subjects with symptomatic HD were interviewed using a questionnaire to retrospectively ascertain pre-morbid lifestyle, including participation in a range of leisure activities and non-leisure activities (education, occupation, and domestic duties). Recorded activities were classified as physical, intellectual, or passive, and activity scores were generated under the headings leisure, non-leisure, and total lifestyle. Surveys were matched with the subject's age-at-onset and CAG repeat length. Analysis of age-at-onset data from 154 subjects in Australia and New Zealand showed a mean of 45.7 years (range 21-76), and a strong inverse correlation with CAG repeat length (r = −0.72, p p Multiple regression analyses that included CAG repeat length as one predictor variable showed passivity (both in leisure and non-leisure) to be a second, independent predictor of age-at-onset (b = −0.28, p = 0.04, and b = −0.27, p = 0.02, respectively), suggesting that a passive lifestyle also contributes to the early onset of symptoms. Leisure activity data covering three life stages (teens, 20s/30s, and 40s/50s) indicate that it is teenage passivity that correlates most strongly with age-at-onset (r = −0.38, p The impact of passivity on age-at-onset is illustrated by comparing the mean age-at-onset in three groups based on lifestyle passivity score. A difference of 4.6 years (95% CI = 1.3 to 7.9) between high and low scoring groups (after adjusting for the impact of CAG repeat length) indicates a significant delay in the onset of symptoms in those who are less passive.

Right leisure: Serious, casual, or project-based?

Leisure as a tool for rehabilitating people with neuro-disabilities is well established. Yet, despite significant progress in this area, problems remain in the way leisure is used for this purpose. One, as yet, unresolved problem is how to determine which leisure activity or activities will be attractive to people with particular disabilities. Another is how to counteract the persistent, dominant public view that real personal worth is measured according to the work people do rather than the leisure they pursue. The third is to inform practitioners, many of whom are unaware of recent advances in leisure theory, about these advances, which can help them solve the first problem and adapt to the second. The main body of this paper presents such a theory - the serious leisure perspective. It synthesizes three main forms of leisure, showing, at once, their distinctive features, similarities, and interrelationships. The forms are serious, casual, and project-based leisure. A review of the research on neuro-rehabilitation follows. Some implications of the Perspective for neuro-rehabilitation are then presented, including ways practitioners can introduce clients to certain types of leisure, encourage them to pursue the types chosen, and help them develop an optimal leisure lifestyle.

Casual leisure and the sensory diet: A concept for improving quality of life in neuropalliative conditions

This case report describes the leisure lifestyle of two individuals with neuropalliative conditions who expressed themselves satisfied with their use of leisure time and whose leisure occupations were based around sensory stimulation to each of the five senses, proprioception and vestibular stimulation in turn. It evaluates the concept of leisure as a means of giving a meaning to life and therefore increasing quality of life, suggests greater use of the existing sensory diet framework in the domain of neuropalliative conditions and proposes a direction for future research in order to provide casual leisure opportunities for individuals with severe cognitive dysfunction in order to improve their quality of life.

Our Friend Jack: Alcohol, friendship and masculinity in university football

Mason's (1980) research noted how the public house has been an integral part of the ‘football experience’ in England for more than a century. Drinking alcohol has been positioned both as central to the experiences of those watching the game in their leisure time and as an important activity for professional footballers to relax and bond with their fellow players. In England the consumption of alcohol is also central to the leisure lifestyles of many students, and although organised sport is often promoted as a ‘healthy’ alternative to alcohol consumption in reality the two are implicitly linked. This paper critically examines the ‘locatedness’ of alcohol consumption in the construction of samesex friendships of male football players at a university in the south of England. It posits that the student bar provides a ‘safe’ environment for homosociability and a pretext for a postulated community of footballing men where the imperatives of male hegemony can be realised and defended away from the interference of an itinerant society.

Public Consultation and Place-Marketing in the Revitalisation of the Port Adelaide Waterfront

The Port Adelaide waterfront redevelopment is a property-led urban venture that is being driven by a logic and ideology of new forms of urban politics that are oriented towards post-industrial capital accumulation. While local residents are in favour of the waterfront being revitalised there is concern about the nature and scale of the redevelopment being proposed. Through a carefully managed ‘place-marketing’ process, the Port's industrial landscape is to be re-conceptualised as a future-oriented landscape of cosmopolitan residential–work–leisure lifestyle as an expression of desire for professional occupancy. The study reveals that local participation and influence in planning decisions of this public–private venture is somewhat marginal to economic considerations.

Displaced Masculinities: Chavs, Youth and Class in the Post-industrial City

In an insecure post-industrial society working-class young men must forge new youth transitions. This entails rethinking what it is to be a ‘man’ beyond the world of industrial paid employment. It also involves a reshaping of a whole ‘way of life’ with the erosion of traditional labour and leisure lifestyles. This ethnographic study contrasts the cultural habitations of young men from traditional skilled working-class backgrounds with those from families experiencing long-term inter-generational unemployment. It explores their differently textured ‘going out’ experiences, their values, attitudes and practices. By focusing upon the subtle and explicit demarcations that distinguish the ‘rough’ from the ‘respectable’ working-class, the article argues that social class is of marked and continuing salience in youth culture. Furthermore, the work suggests that by exhibiting ‘spectacular masculinities’ of white male excess, young men accrue a body capital that has a currency and a local exchange value within the circuits they inhabit.

Relationships between work-status and leisure lifestyle at the age of 60years old.

The tendency to leave work before the formal pension age is reached has increased in most OECD-countries. The societal economical consequences of these circumstances are worrying and knowledge about the mechanisms behind this trend is urgent. Previous research has focused on the role of pension rules, work environments, health and education. In this study, it was investigated if there are differences in personality and in leisure lifestyle between individuals who have retired at the age of 60 and individuals who still work at the same age. The effects of health, work satisfaction, education level and household economy were taken into account. The sample was drawn from the SNAC-Blekinge database and the participants were 184 randomly selected individuals aged 60years. The variables were measured using standardised questionnaire data. The results show that early retirement due to health problems was negatively related to visiting museums and art expositions and positively related to number of symptoms of disease. Retirement due to other reasons than disability was negatively related to reading books and to number of symptoms. The study suggests there is a possible stress-reducing effect of participation in cultural/intellectual activities. This effect may strengthen the ability and motivation to continue working at the age of 60years old.

Leisure Time in Japan: How Much and for Whom?

Japan is famous for long working hours. For decades the Japanese government has tried to influence how people spend their free time. In 5-yearly surveys since 1986, the government has surveyed quality of life by gauging how much time people spend daily in various non-economic activities. Using results from the 1986, 1991, 1996, and 2001 surveys, this study determines whether time spent daily on leisure activities has actually changed. Controlling for labor market forces, in recent years Japanese adults have not experienced more leisure time overall. They have increased time spent, one hour per week, in media-oriented leisure; this increase, however, comes at the expense of more outgoing amusements like hobbies, playing sports, or socializing with friends. There is a significant gender gap for leisure time. Shorter work schedules do encourage a more active leisure lifestyle. Leisure is directly related to regular income, but is stifled by bonus pay.

Juveniles performing auto theft: An exploratory study into a deviant leisure lifestyle

This study investigates an under‐researched crime—auto then—as a leisure activity that some juveniles perform as a part of their lifestyle. For these juveniles it is not just the thrill of the act of performing auto theft, but the risk involved in “getting away with it.” This risk is one that must be, what the youths perceive as, under their control. This lifestyle is based on the pursuit of casual leisure (Stebbins, 1997) where boredom prevails as a condition in the juvenile's everyday life. The motivations of auto theft are contextualized as thrill and risk with a hedonic lifestyle as a means to an end. This means to an end is from the theft itself as a leisure activity or as an intermediate step to another leisure activity.

Hospitality tourism and leisure lifestyle concepts. Implications for quality management and customer satisfaction, by Maree Thynne and Eric Laws (eds). The Haworth Hospitality Press, Binghamton, NY, 2004. No. of pages: 244. ISBN 13978-7890-2755-9

Hospitality tourism and leisure lifestyle concepts. Implications for quality management and customer satisfaction, by Maree Thynne and Eric Laws (eds). The Haworth Hospitality Press, Binghamton, NY, 2004. No. of pages: 244. ISBN 13978-7890-2755-9

Factors associated with leisure activity among young adults with developmental disabilities

The framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) was applied to examine the factors associated with childhood impairment and leisure activity. Information on leisure activity was obtained using a structured questionnaire from a population-based cohort of young adults with childhood impairment. The results underscore the differences in leisure lifestyles by impairment type and severity. Activity limitations, educational attainment, and the acquisition of adult social roles were significant predictors of leisure activity. This study emphasizes the importance of improving daily activities, increasing attendance of postsecondary school and opportunities for competitive employment and participation in impairment-related programs to help increase the number and scope of types of leisure activities for young adults with developmental disabilities.

Readership of Free Community Papers as a Source of Advertising Information: A Uses and Gratifications Perspective

The free paper is a convenient and relevant advertising information source, performing the functions of providing surveillance information and product values to consumers. Several market segments with varying market attributes are identified as heavy readers of the free paper. Based on the theoretical framework of uses and gratifications, a multivariate model helps to explain readership. Readership of the free paper increases as age increases, as involvement in some leisure lifestyles increases, as more favorable attitude toward the free paper increases, and as the value of information on homes and equipment and on food and supplies increases.

The Tourism and leisure industry: shaping the future

* About the Editors * Contributors * Preface and Acknowledgments * Introduction. After the Anthill Was Stomped: The Customization of Life and Leisure * A Revolution in World Population and Living Arrangements * A Revolution in Work * A Revolution in the Bases of Modern Economies--Postcapitalist Economies of Knowledge and Experience * A Revolution of Networked Economies and Globalization * The Impact of Globalization * Multipolar and Multicivilizational Politics and Power * Revolutionary Changes in Environment * A Revolution in Urban Areas * A Revolution in the Mass Customization of Products and Services * Conclusion * SECTION I: CHANGES IN DEMOGRAPHICS, STAGES OF LIFE, AND LEISURE BEHAVIOR * Chapter 1. Leisure Futures: A Change in Demography? * Introduction * Framework * Demographic Change * Data * Results * Conclusion * Chapter 2. Concerns and Considerations About the Future of Youth Leisure: An International Perspective * Introduction * Case Studies * Critical Questions and Issues for the Future of Youth Leisure * Time Use, Experience, and Human Development * Civic and Societal Benefits * Opportunities for Participation and Provision of Service * Conclusion * Chapter 3. A Leisure Lifestyle Study of Generation X in New Zealand * Introduction * Background * Methodology * Results * Discussion * SECTION II: THE GLOBALIZATION OF LEISURE OR REDISCOVERING SLOWNESS? * Chapter 4. Spacing and Timing in Leisure Activities * Scenario * The Study of Leisure Activities * Space and Time * Spacing and Timing * Examples and Cases * Conclusion * Chapter 5. The Rediscovery of Slowness, or Leisure Time As One's Own and As a Self-Aggrandizement? * Introduction * The Formation of Personal Time * Leisure Time As an Institution * Vacation Time * Slowness During Vacation * Chapter 6. Can Slow Tourism Bring New Life to Alpine Regions? * Introduction * Slow Tourism: An Antidote to Speed and a Promising Niche * Slow Tourism and Its Principles * Conclusion * Chapter 7. Leisure Investments: Global Supply and Demand * Introduction * How, Then, Can We Even Begin to Look Ahead? * Megaperspectives * The Future * Alternatives * SECTION III: (INTER)CULTURAL LEISURE BEHAVIOR * Chapter 8. Intercultural Behavior: Glimpses of Leisure from an Asian Perspective * Introduction * Collectivism and Face * Asian Hierarchy of Needs * The Concept and Meaning of Leisure: An Asian Perspective * Implications for Leisure Service Provision * Conclusion * Chapter 9. Cultural Tourism and the Leisure Paradigm: The Australian Experience * Introduction * Understanding Leisure and Tourism * Leisure and Cultural Tourism * Leisure and the Arts * Australian Cultural Participation * Cultural Tourism * Conclusion * Chapter 10. A Comparison of Leisure Styles in Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal * Introduction * Methodology * Lifestyles As a Criterion for Segmentation in the Leisure Age * Description of European Leisure Styles * Factors Impeding Homogenization of Results * Trends * Conclusion * SECTION IV: CHANGING PATTERNS IN LIFESTYLE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR LEISURE BEHAVIOR * Chapter 11. The Hybrid Consumer of Leisure Squeezed Between Fun Maximization, Chill Out, and the Radical Search for Inner Values * Introduction * The Body As a Branding Tool * Chapter 12. Wellness: A New Perspective for Leisure Centers, Health Tourism, and Spas in Europe on the Global Health Market * The European Health System Enters the Global Market * Health Care: Basic Innovation for the Next Millennium? * The WHO's New Definition of Health * The Wellness Concept * Differentiation of Wellness Facilities * Target Groups: From Young Females To Senior Citizens and Mal

The Constraining Impact of Infertility on Women's Leisure Lifestyles

Research has focused on documenting the physiological causes and psychological consequences of infertility, while other issues such as the impact of infertility on a woman's leisure and quality of life have received little attention (Imeson & McMurray, 1996). Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to examine the constraining influence of infertility on a woman's leisure lifestyle. Through an analysis of the data, three ways the experience of infertility affected a woman's access to or enjoyment of leisure pursuits included: (1) the all-consuming experience of infertility resulted in women who had little or no leisure in their lives, (2) the changes in a woman's life as a result of seeking infertility treatment negatively impacted her leisure lifestyle, and (3) the women felt socially isolated as a result of infertility, which negatively influenced their leisure satisfaction.

The divergence and coalescence of public outdoor recreation values in New Zealand and England: an interplay between rights and markets

Mid 19th Century English settlers in New Zealand developed a clear set of values for outdoor recreation. A small gregarious farming population used recreation for team sports and the nurturing of a ‘moral and physical health’. Work on the farm was a solitary activity. Recreation should therefore be a social one, taking place on land the rights to which were to be available to all. Developments in England from this time, by contrast, provided recreation values dominated by notions of quiet rural refreshment in manicured landscapes. These values were inextricably linked with national identity for a country with an Empire: the English landscape was the image of a spiritual home and rights over the use of this landscape became increasingly restricted over time. Contemporary national policy in both countries reinforced these distinct value systems. From the late 1970s, however, increasing globalisation has led to a coalescence of value systems for outdoor recreation. Traditional forms of outdoor activities, and the rights to pursue them, have given way to more common leisure lifestyles in both countries. These are now much more based around the home and on health and fitness, and are driven by access through the market rather than through public access rights. Public policy for outdoor recreation in both countries also has embraced this market orientation, pulling back from the centrality of the public provision of access rights.

The Leisure Perceptions and Leisure Meanings of a Mid-Life Couple Around the Time of Retirement

The purpose of this study was to examine how positive perceptions about leisure help people to adjust to the transition between work and retirement. In particular, do perceptions about work, family, or leisure shift during the time when people are working to when they move into retirement? Secondly, do positive perceptions about leisure help people adjust better to retirement? In order to examine these variables over time, longitudinal data was collected between 1987 and 1996 from a wider study entitled “A Study of Leisure During Adulthood,” and a case study design was used to explore the leisure perceptions and leisure meanings of a married couple, Betsy and Ed over a 10-year period around the time of their retirement. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected to examine the research questions that related to attitudes toward leisure, work, family and retirement. Results showed that both Ed and Betsy consistently scored very high scores on both the leisure attitude and perceived freedom in leisure scales. They also ranked leisure higher than work every year of the study, and indicated that they enjoyed participating in leisure and saw its importance in achieving an optimal leisure lifestyle. As a result they achieved a smoother and more successful transition into retirement.