The homogeneity of leisure constraints

Abstract

Factors such as not knowing where to learn new skills and a lack of transport constrain leisure participation. These factors prevent individuals from participating in physical recreation to the extent they would like. Four behavioural outcomes of constrained leisure were studied; inability to achieve desired satisfaction levels, inability to achieve desired participation levels, inability to start participating and inability to continue participating. The present study examines the assumption that the same constraints in the same priority order are associated with the four behavioural outcomes of constrained leisure.

A self-administered questionnaire was delivered to 640 households in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1994. A response rate of 37% was achieved from residents of Christchurch who were over 18 years of age. The top and bottom seven constraints for each of the four behavioural outcomes were compared and found to be similar. Spearman rank order correlation coefficients were used to examine the amount of similarity and difference in the rank order of the constraints reported for each of the four behavioural outcomes. Significant correlation coefficients were found for each of the comparisons of constraints reported for the four behavioural outcomes of constraints. However, scatter plots revealed that some of the constraints did not follow the pattern of the others and had different ranks for some of the behavioural outcomes. The implications of this study and recommendations for future research in this area are discussed.