Reasons for change in leisure patterns in the transition from school to work

Abstract

Problems are heightened for school leavers when it appears little leisure provision is exclusively geared towards young adults. The public sector makes no special provision for young adults once out of school. If however they go into tertiary training, leisure facilities, both social and physical, are made available. For those who go to work full time leisure is provided in part by the commercial sector who are quick to realise the potentials of young wage earners who have a large amount of discretionary income available. To what extent young people are utilizing these commercial facilities, such as pubs, cinemas, discos, etc., and to how great a degree they are continuing with passive and active leisure habits created either by family or school (socialization) processes, is of key interest to this study. To help answer some of these questions a survey was constructed. It was hoped that this would highlight some useful trends for leisure providers as no previous local information was available.