Leisure Repertoire Research Articles

Examining the long-term effect of leisure engagement, leisure satisfaction, and perceived discrimination on stress perception among Koreans with physical disabilities

Leisure is considered an effective means to relieve stress. However, limited research has explored its roles in the stress-coping processes of people with disabilities, especially those living in non-western contexts. This study explores the relationship between leisure time (LT) and leisure repertoire (LR) and perceived stress from disability (PSD) through leisure satisfaction (LS), while using perceived discrimination (PD) as a moderator. Data were collected from the 2016 and 2017 Panel Survey of Employment for the Disabled created by a Korean government agency. A total of 1,443 respondents with physical disabilities were selected. The results showed LT and LR have somewhat different associations with LS and PSD. Moreover, PD was only a moderator of the relationship between LT, LS, and PSD. The present study emphasizes the importance of quality of leisure experiences, rather than simply engaging in leisure, and the efficacy of LR as a stress coping skill.

Gender differences in leisure: from the relationship between leisure type-time and time use satisfaction in Korea

ABSTRACT This study aims to find out gender differences in leisure by examining the relationship between time and time use satisfaction(TUS) for each leisure type. As a result of analysing the Korean Time Use Survey, sports/leports and rest for men and hobbies and leisure learning for women showed a positive correlation with TUS, and for women, the more diverse the leisure types, the higher the TUS. I found that the gender norms imposed on women reduced their leisure time as well as their satisfaction, and that women’s labour market participation significantly constrained the quantity and quality of leisure compared to men. Gender differences in leisure are explained by resource availability, and women's leisure activities are more influenced by time resources and men’s financial resources. The nonlinear relationship between leisure repertoire or time and satisfaction shows gender differences in the combination of leisure diversity and time that increase the positive influence of leisure.

Recreational cannabis use and identity formation: a collective memory work study

ABSTRACT Until quite recently, cannabis was the most widely used illicit drug globally. Using collective memory work, this study focuses on experiences of cannabis use as part of young persons’ deviant leisure repertoire and explores its role in identity formation processes. The study included a group process of analyzing our own memories of early experience of cannabis use, as well as analysis of the group research meetings themselves. Three themes emerged from the analysis: 1. The construction of cannabis as both cool and dangerous; 2. Smoking cannabis for the first time as a rite of passage; 3. Cannabis smoking as an extraterritorial space that allows exploration and identity formation in adolescence/early adulthood. A fourth theme that emerged from the analysis of the group meetings is cannabis use as part of identity work in adulthood. The study demonstrates that the label “cannabis user” has had an important role in our identity formation.

Leisure Education, Poverty and Recreation Participation

Abstract Individuals living in poverty face a number of challenges that interfere with their ability to create or engage in meaningful leisure and recreation experiences. Although limited access to finances is often the most cited constraint to leisure and recreation participation among those living in poverty, there are a wide range of other constraints on participation: limited leisure skills; knowledge and interests; discriminatory policies; feelings of guilt and shame; and poor physical, social and mental wellbeing. Despite the vast array of policies, subsidized programming and supports that the recreation profession and allied professionals have made available, low-income families continue to struggle to access and create leisure experiences. This case study highlights the innovation of a community-based leisure education delivery system to help low-income families learn about leisure, develop the necessary skills, knowledge, capacities and resources, and gain access to a wide range of leisure and recreation experiences to enhance their leisure repertoire. The success of the agency is embedded in their invested stakeholders, their ability to utilize existing community leisure recreation resources, and their focus on teaching for and through leisure. Because of this agency’s unique approach, the application of leisure education at the community level has positively impacted not only the child, but the family unit and community as well. VIU logo WLCE logo Information Vancouver Island University World Leisure Centre of Excellence © C. Hiebert and J. Oncescu 2015

Leisure and subjective well-being of parents of Korean transnational-split families

This study examined leisure and subjective well-being (SWB) of Korean transnational-split families (KTSF) who live in Korea and the U.S. Using data collected from an online survey, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test seven hypotheses related to the affective components of the SWB of KTSF. Income, frequency of family communication, marital satisfaction, and the size of leisure repertoire were significantly associated with the positive affect of KTSF. The amount of leisure time and the frequency of leisure involvement were not significant. Two regression models were tested to understand the differential validity of the time and frequency of six different types of leisure activities on positive affect. The leisure time and frequency of Hobbies and Other Activities were significant, while other activity types were not. These findings were discussed in light of the existing SWB and transnationalism literature, the qualitative aspects of leisure experience, and the life circumstances of KTSF.

Media-Based Leisure and Wellbeing: A Study of Older Internet Users

ABSTRACTStudies exploring digital technology in the context of leisure for older people tend to neglect their parallel use of traditional media. By simultaneous examination of both online and offline recreational media use, the present study explores media-based leisure repertoires and wellbeing among older Internet users. Data were collected via a survey of 10,527 Internet users aged 60 and up from seven countries (Austria, Canada, Denmark, Israel, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain). Analysis examined participants’ media use and differences among people with disparate use patterns. The study identified four groups of Internet users according to the media-based leisure activities they engaged in: innovative traditionalists, entertainment seekers, selective content consumers, and eclectic media users. The groups differed in their activity repertoires, background characteristics, and leisure preferences. Being an eclectic media user (i.e., relatively less selective) was significantly associated with lower life satisfaction. Results indicate an advantage to selectivity in media use for leisure and confirm that participation in certain activities may compensate somewhat for distressing conditions in old age. They also suggest diminished boundaries between offline and online leisure among older Internet users and call for further development of the functional approach to Internet use in later life.

Do More Leisure Time and Leisure Repertoire Make Us Happier? An Investigation of the Curvilinear Relationships

Although the importance of leisure in promoting happiness has been well-documented in the literature, scant attention has been paid if more leisure is always associated with increased happiness or may result in leisure satiation. Using the panel data from 2016 Survey on National Leisure Activity from the Republic of Korea, this study investigated curvilinear relationships between leisure quantity, leisure repertoire, leisure satisfaction, and happiness. Our results showed that both weekday and holiday leisure quantities had inverted U-shape relationships with leisure satisfaction. Weekday leisure quantity also had an inverted U-shape relationship with happiness. However, leisure repertoire did not show curvilinear relationships with leisure satisfaction and happiness. Leisure satisfaction had a U-shape curvilinear relationship with happiness, and it also mediated the curvilinear relationships between weekday leisure quantity and happiness as well as holiday leisure quantity and happiness. We provided interpretations of our findings based on the existing literature, overwork culture in Korea, and cultural capital. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Understanding women’s “incremental” leisure repertoires in the family leisure space

ABSTRACTResearch into women and family leisure has focused primarily on the constraints they face as a consequence of the ethic of care and ideas of intensive mothering. This paper considers mother’s experiences of family leisure, as a site of “incremental” leisure in and away from, the home. Eighteen mothers with one, or more children under five years of age, were interviewed in relation to their leisure participation. Women identified a range of leisure pursuits that went beyond our current understandings of family leisure as being purposive or instrumental. The women’s stories illustrated how a range of incremental leisure repertoires, including “slow leisure” and “leisure overlap”, can facilitate leisure and draw women towards (as opposed to away from) family leisure as a site of their own leisure. In this study, “incremental” leisure and its associated spaces had accumulated an affective value that allowed women to experience pleasure and enjoyment, slow down and simply “be” within the family leisure space.

Innovation Theory Revisited: Self-Preservation Innovation versus Self-Reinvention Innovation in Later Life

ABSTRACTThe innovation theory of successful aging differentiates between Self-Preservation Innovation (SPI) and Self-Reinvention Innovation (SRI), suggesting that both contribute to well-being in later life. Based on a telephone survey of 545 retirees aged 60 and over, this study aimed at examining the two types of innovation in leisure and their association with well-being. Results indicated that SPI activities were significantly more common than SRI activities and that innovators who reported adding the former had significantly higher life satisfaction than the rest of the sample. No such difference was found regarding innovators who added SRI activities. Moreover, the study showed that it was not the type of innovation but rather its result—namely, a greater leisure repertoire among innovators—that predicted postretirement life satisfaction. Results are discussed regarding each tenet of the theory, elucidating directions of future research.

English

Arthritis is a common chronic disease that affects the physical and mental functioning of adults. Self-management practices promote health and well-being, and leisure activities may be one cost-effective means of doing so. Data from 88 adults were used to examine whether adults' leisure patterns (leisure repertoire and leisure style) were related to factors associated with self-management practices (e.g, arthritis selfefficacy, selective optimization with compensation [SOC]) and arthritis-related health. Findings suggested that a cognitive leisure style and size of leisure repertoire significantly predicted leisure-based SOC. Implications of this study for recreational therapy (RT) practice are discussed, including the role of leisure education in the promotion of self-management.

Leisure repertoire among persons with a spinal cord injury: Interests, performance, and well-being

ObjectiveTo explore and describe the leisure repertoire of persons with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) and how the repertoire is related to interest, performance, and well-being.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingA total of 97 persons with traumatic SCI were recruited from the non-profit national organization, RG Active Rehabilitation in Sweden.Outcome measureData were collected through a two-part postal survey. The first comprised of questions investigating socio-demographic variables and injury characteristics; the second part included an interest checklist with 20 areas of leisure activities.ResultsThe participants were mostly interested in, performed, and experienced well-being from social and culture activities and TV/DVD/movies. The areas of leisure activities in which they had most likely experienced changes after the SCI were outdoor activities, exercise, and gardening. Sex, age, and to some extent, time since injury were related to interest, performance, well-being, and changed performance.ConclusionsThe results provided an explanation and limited description of a changed leisure repertoire among persons after a traumatic SCI. The study showed that sex, age, and time since injury were more closely related to the choice of leisure activities to include in the leisure repertoire than the level of injury. This knowledge can be of importance when professionals in the field of rehabilitation are planning and implementing interventions concerning leisure activities for persons with SCI.

Taking leisure seriously: new and older considerations about leisure education

The subject of leisure education has ancient intellectual roots similar to those of leisure itself; and the attention to the subject within the World Leisure establishment dates back to the beginning of that organisation as well. But while the rationale for leisure education (education in, through, and about leisure) has been well developed and its approaches well documented, its purposes have not been critically examined. This paper examines flow and serious leisure as important objectives for educational interventions in the context of leisure, but it cautions against an overvaluing of these purposes to the exclusion of others. It asserts the need to educate about other leisure qualities, including relaxation, exploration, appreciation, and sociability that are at least as important to subjective wellbeing and to personal and community development. While discrimination of interest and focus of attention are appropriately addressed in leisure education, resisting an excessive narrowing of leisure repertoires and cultivating a relaxed openness to experience are also consistent with long-held leisure ideals.

Leisure Diversity as an Indicator of Cultural Capital

The diversity of activities in a repertoire of leisure is a variable shown to have considerable impact on the quality of leisure and beneficial personal outcomes, and it is proposed as one important indicator of cultural capital. Theoretical perspectives on cultural capital indicate the importance of education in preparing individuals for broad patterns of leisure consumption in addition to status attainment. Contemporary advances demonstrate that status attainment cannot be equated with high cultural consumption and that broadly omnivorous leisure pursuits may be more valuable to social actors. Role attachment theory and disengagement theory are additionally explored as possible theoretical explanations that assist in predicting leisure diversity that is highly patterned by employment and one's age. The number of different leisure experiences that constitute an individual's leisure repertoire is expected to change throughout the life-course as needs for cultural capital vary and as demands in paid and domestic work change. Tobit models of leisure diversity are proposed using American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data. Findings indicate that leisure diversity is impacted by ethnicity, recent immigration, age and socio-economic status, and theoretically relevant conditional relationships are explored.

Negotiating the policy imperative to be healthy: Australian family repertoires of risk, leisure, and healthy lifestyles

This article offers a sociological analysis of how different lowermiddle income families engage with Australian government health policies and promotion campaigns aimed at reducing the risk of lifestyle disease (eat well, be active). Bringing together sociological literature across the domains of leisure, family, health, and risk we identify tensions between the purposes of health promotion and purposive family leisure. Findings are presented from a qualitative study conducted with 21 adults and children in four families (nuclear, same‐sex, single parent, blended) which identify discursive constructions of family leisure time, health, and risk. Three key themes were identified within the family leisure repertoires that included tensions between purposive health and leisure goals, the importance of emotional relationships, and the calculation of risk and benefit. The effect of class, gender, and sexuality was also evident in different family constructions of leisure meanings, opportunity, and ability to respond to the individualised responsibility inherent in healthy lifestyle policy. Our critical engagement with healthy lifestyle discourses opens up a range of issues for leisure research, policy, and provision that embraces a more complex understanding of the social forces shaping family well‐being.

In support of innovation theory: innovation in activity patterns and life satisfaction among recently retired individuals

ABSTRACTA central theme of ‘innovation theory’, which the author and a colleague have proposed and which is concerned with the triggers, types and benefits of innovation in later life, is that adding brand-new leisure activities after retiring from work enhances post-retirement wellbeing. The study reported in this article aimed to examine this proposition using quantitative data from a nationwide sample in Israel of 378 recently retired individuals. The study explored the frequency of post-retirement innovation in people's leisure repertoires, the association between innovation and retirees' life satisfaction, and factors in the differing life satisfaction of innovators and non-innovators. The results indicate that the inclination toward innovation significantly associated with the respondents' work and retirement histories, as well as with their self-rated health and world region of origin. Innovators had significantly higher life satisfaction than non-innovators, but this difference could not be explained by the number of new activities. In addition, socio-demographic differences failed to explain innovators' wellbeing. While some support for innovation theory was provided, further research is required to explore the dynamics by which innovation at older ages contributes to retirees' wellbeing.

Leisure Patterns and Health Among Recently Widowed Adults

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine how leisure involvement changes with the transition to widowhood and to determine if change in leisure involvement during this time has an impact on widows' physical and mental health. Adults age 50 and older who had transitioned into widowhood between Waves 1 and 2 or Waves 2 and 3 of the Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) dataset (N = 154) were included in the study. Results indicated that during this time widows experienced changes in their leisure repertoire (the types of leisure activities in which they participate), and the frequency of their leisure involvement. These changes in leisure behavior were associated with functional impairment, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction, as well as their ability to cope with the loss of their spouse. Findings were interpreted in terms of effective strategies that appear to be employed by widows in utilizing leisure activities following loss of a spouse.

Expanding, Reducing, Concentrating and Diffusing: Post Retirement Leisure Behavior and Life Satisfaction

This study examined patterns of continuity and change in leisure behavior of recently retired individuals. The study investigated post-retirement leisure behavior in an Israeli national sample. It explored the differences among four defined groups: reducers, concentrators, diffusers and expanders, and measured their leisure participation and life satisfaction. Results indicated that the expanders and the concentrators enjoyed a significantly higher life satisfaction. The findings supported activity theory and continuity theory. They also led to the conclusion that for people who had a limited leisure repertoire prior to retirement, experiencing new activities was just as important as continuity in the adaptation process of retirement.

Focus on Leisure Repertoire in the Oldest Old: The Umeå 85+ Study

This study elucidates the oldest olds’ leisure repertoire and how this repertoire varies due to gender, where they live, and cognitive status. A validated 20-item leisure interest checklist with four subscales was used to measure leisure participation and investigate the leisure repertoire among participants. The oldest old were most likely to be interested in, perform, be motivated for, and perceive well-being from social activities, cultural activities, and TV/video/movies. The respondents were least likely to be interested in, perform, be motivated for, and perceive well-being from equipment sports and ball games. Some gender, geographic differences, and differences in cognitive status were found. The oldest old were more likely to endorse the same activities across all subscales of the checklist, but the linear magnitude varied across sub-scales. The relationships between performance and the other subscales suggested that a sense of engagement or participation is related to actual performance.

Sport and Leisure as Contexts for Fathering in Australian Families

The relationships that fathers have with their family in leisure contexts are reflected in their leisure and sport repertoires and identities. Family‐based leisure relationships are one significant mode through which they express connectedness with their children. This article builds on feminist studies of gendered leisure relations in families, and rejects approaches that conflate mothers’ and fathers’ experiences and meanings of family leisure into that of ‘parents’. In contrast it focuses on fathers’ gendered experience of family leisure to further our understanding of what ‘playing’ with children means in relation to the identity construction of fatherhood. It considers the nexus between fathers’ own leisure and sport repertoires, their understanding of their children’s identities and leisure needs, and their involvement in shared family leisure and their children’s leisure and sport activities. This article is based on a larger qualitative study of mothers, fathers and children in 28 Australian families. Both parents in each family were interviewed about their leisure involvements, children’s leisure activities and what they felt was the meaning and importance of family leisure. At least one child 10 years and older in each family was also interviewed. In addition a seven‐day diary was also used by parents (most usually mothers) to record the leisure activities of all family members prior to the interviews. Four themes emerged in the analysis of the interviews with fathers in the study. These themes were: the importance for fathers of being with children and doing leisure as a family; the family paradigm and fathering through the generations; sport as a dominant but not the only cultural context for fathering; and other leisure contexts in which non‐sporting fathers construct their fatherhood identity. The study suggests the possibility that for some Australian fathers, sport and leisure contexts as both physical and social spaces enable men to do the identity work of being an involved or ‘generative’ (i.e. guiding the next generation) father.

The Role of Leisure Style in Maintaining the Health of Older Adults with Arthritis

This study explores the role of leisure style in relation to the perceived physical and mental health of older adults with self-reported arthritis. A model of successful aging was used as a conceptual framework to examine the relationship between the type of leisure styles and physical and mental health. Altogether, 464 adults over the age of 50 completed a questionnaire that assessed perceived physical and mental health, health history, pain severity (a proxy for arthritis severity), leisure style, social interaction with friends, and socio-demographics. Results indicated that type of leisure style had a significant role in the relationship between arthritis severity and perceived physical health. The main effect, leisure repertoire size was positively related to perceived physical health. That is, the broader the leisure repertoire, the higher the reported health. In terms of mental health, frequency of social interaction with friends was positively related to perceived mental health. Results are discussed in terms of leisure as a buffer for the negative effects of arthritis on health.