Personal Leisure Perspectives

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Personal Leisure Perspectives

• Lifespan Factors
• Motivations

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Leisure and Life Span

• Meaning of Age
• Chronological years since birth
• Physical, emotional, social, intellectual
  maturation expectations
• Birth Cohort common age location in history
• Share events in history
• Cohort-groups are like rings on a tree.
• They carry within them a unique signature of
  history's bygone moments.
• Examples???

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Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
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Think, Pair, Share

• Activities done ages 0-12
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.

Activities done ages 13-18 1. 2. 3. 4.
Activities done ages 19 1. 2. 3. 4.
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Think, Pair, Share

• Activities done ages 0-12
• 1. Bike
• 2. Camp
• 3. Softball
• 4. Snowmobile

Activities done ages 13-18 1. Bike 2. Camp 3.
Softball 4. Run
Activities done ages 19 1. Bike 2. Hike 3.
Garden 4. Kayak
How do our activities change over the life span?
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Leisure Activities over the Life Span

• Core Plus Balance concept
• Core Leisure Activities thru lifetime
• Easily accessible
• Low cost
• Ie. walking, shopping, socializing
• Is your core visible in think, pair, share?
• Balance Leisure Activities
• Variety in activities that balance life
• Change throughout life

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Iso-Ahola (1980)variety
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Iso-Ahola (1980)
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Life Span Factors Influencing Leisure

• Childhood
• parents, socioeconomic status, geography
• Teen College
• Car, social status, freedom, part-time job
• Young Adult
• Money, Job
• Middle Adult
• Family, Career, Physical Limitations
• Older Adult
• Time, Physical Limitations, Demographics, Access

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Life Stages Developmental Areas

• Physical
• Emotional
• Intellectual
• Social
• Leisure activities play an important role in each
  of these areas at different life stages.

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Physical Development

• Shifts from developing motor control in children,
  to sustaining health during middle years to
  reducing decline in physical capabilities in
  older adults

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Physical Development

• Infants/Toddlers
• Basic motor skills, muscle development, master
  own body
• Play is important in this growth
• Physical activity needed for normal bone growth
• Youth
• Muscles double, flexibility
• Coordination continuing to develop
• Adolescence (ie. 13-17)
• Reaching physical maturity
• Physical activity needed to develop strength,
  flexibility, height, endurance fine motor skills

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Physical Development

• Young Adulthood (17-mid 20s)
• Reaching physical peak
• Seek risk activities, exercise, physical activity
• High energy level
• Middle Adulthood (mid to late 20s-mid 50s)
• Hit physical peak then a slight decline
• Biological maturity
• Move away from highly strenuous risky
  activities
• Older Adulthood
• Decreased muscle mass
• Decreased flexibility endurance
• Active lifestyle keeps people healthy longer

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Think, Pair, Share

• From your listhow do these activities impact
  your physical development?
• Ie. Biking increased muscle as a youth, softball
  developed fine gross motor skills

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Emotional Development

• How we deal with feelings
• Leisure is very emotional
• Happiness
• Pleasure
• Joy
• Frustration

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Emotional Development

• Infants/Toddlers
• Children have same basic emotions as adults
• Control expression of emotions is different
  than adults
• More immediate, impulsive, direct
• Use coping strategies through play
• Youth
• Fear anxiety of imaginary things
• Deal with these through play
• Locus of Control
• Internal controlled by the person
• External controlled by someone/thing else
• Internal locus of control helps children deal
  with fear anxiety

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Emotional Development

• Adolescence
• Combined emotional maturity childishness
• Achieving greater autonomy
• Forming identity
• Personality developing
• Try new leisure activities to see what fits who
  I am
• Winning becomes more important
• Young Adulthood
• Breaking from parents
• Optimism, confidence, maturity developing
• Stress is high leisure can reduce it

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Emotional Development

• Middle Adulthood
• Limitations realized
• Midlife crisis
• Sense of stagnation
• Resent loss youth freedom
• Older Adulthood
• Anticipation of retirement or what future holds
• Some feel loneliness, apathy, detatchment

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Think, Pair, Share

• From your listhow do these activities impact
  your emotional development?

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Intellectual Development

• Infants/Toddlers
• Learn through play
• Language development
• Youth
• Problem solving
• Apply play to real life situations using language
• Adolescence
• Learn through TV, play, Internet, books, sports

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Intellectual Development

• Young Adulthood
• Intelligence scores improve through mid 30s
• Middle Adulthood
• Learn from family, games
• Older Adulthood
• Games, cards, sharing experiences increase brain
  functioning

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A little research on I. D.

• Brain is like a muscle, it always develops if
  exercised
• Play games often
• Force you to think ahead, see big picture,
  consider options
• Work on crossword puzzles
• Puzzles 4 days per week decreases dementia by 50

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A little research on I. D.

• Choose right brained hobbies
• Creativity music, art
• Fine motor skills juggling, video games
• Be active
• Exercise pumps blood to the brain
• Slows brain cell death

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Think, Pair, Share

• From your listhow do these activities impact
  your intellectual development?

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Social Development

• Infants/Toddlers
• Become aware of themselves family
• Play is prime teacher of social development
• Play stages
• Solitary play (0-1) play alone, no peer
  interaction
• Onlooker play (2) interaction is limited to
  observation
• Parallel play (2-3) play alongside each other
• Associative play (4-5) start to interact
• Cooperative play (6-7) fully interactive with
  peers
• Youth
• Learn winning, losing, negotiation, taking turns,
  rules
• Better communicators because of peers
• More understanding of feelings toward others

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Social Development

• Adolescence
• Crowd, clique, individual relationships
• Gender appropriate leisure behavior emerges
• Boys more aggressive with gross motor skill
  stimulation
• Girls more social with verbal skill stimulation
• Begin autonomy
• Emotional, social physical independence
• Young Adulthood
• Meeting others, establishing significant
  relationships, parenthood (leisure restricted)
• Leisure is predominantly social commercial
• Bars, clubs, restaurants, resorts, apartment
  complexes

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Social Development

• Middle Adulthood
• Neighbors, Parents of your childs friends
  (leisure more restricted)
• Older Adulthood
• Family, main form of leisure
• More social the greater morale
• Friends become a mainstay as family passes

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Think, Pair, Share

• From your listhow do these activities impact
  your social development?

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Recreation in our lives
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Recreation in the Lives of Children

• Early infancy preteens
• Play establishes values behavior patterns that
  continue through lifespan
• Play enhances creativity, problem solving,
  cognitive ability, abstract thought processes
• Issues impacting children

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Recreation in the Lives of Children

• Decline in family structure
• 1.28/1000 (Thailand) 4.95/1000 (US)
• Divorce rates increasing
• Number of people marrying is decreasing
• Single parent households
• Latchkey children
• Twice as likely to abuse alcohol, tobacco
• Remain indoors

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Recreation in the Lives of Children

• Overscheduled child
• Increased opportunities
• Increased stress on child family

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Recreation in the Lives of Children

• Economically disadvantaged children
• Thai poverty
• 12.9 (8 million people)
• Most in rural areas
• US poverty
• 13.0 (39 million people)
• Increasing gap between haves have nots
• Fewer resources for constructive play
• Toys, games, books
• Trips to zoos, travel
• In US unsafe neighborhoods

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Recreation in the Lives of Children

• Influence of mass media

TV Radio Internet Reading
World ave. 16.6 8.0 8.9 6.5
Thailand 22.4 13.3 11.7 9.4
US 19.0 10.2 8.8 5.7

• Measured in hours per week
• Thailand is in top 5 in all categories

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Recreation in the Lives of Children

• Influence of mass media
• Violence
• Sexual content
• Increase aggressive behaviors in children
• Proliferate the decline in traditional Thai
  values
• Present age inappropriate material

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Recreation in the Lives of Children

• Lack of outdoor play
• Media
• Computers
• Safety
• Value of outdoor play
• Improve emotional health
• Reduces anxiety, depression, behavior disorders
• Increases creativity cognitive development
• Summary
• Recreation is needed
• Many factors working against children

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Recreation in the Lives of Adolescents

• Teens
• Strong tie between recreation habits emotional
  and social development
• Issues
• Binge drinking
• Illegal prescription drug use
• Online gambling
• Increased teen pregnancy
• Increased criminal activity
• Mass media influence

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Recreation in the Lives of Adolescents

• Boredom need for excitement
• Boredom can result in delinquency
• Recreation provides challenge, risk, adventure
• Positives
• More experiences
• Open minded less locked into tradition???
• Willing to try new things

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Think, Pair, Share

• What leisure activities do your grandparents do?

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Recreation in the Lives of Adults

• Late teens to early or mid 60s
• Many age cohorts in this group
• Young adults
• Marrying later, starting families later
• Having fewer children
• Technology is key to their lives
• Like a fast life
• Speed dating
• Financially independent
• Their recreation

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Recreation in the Lives of Adults

• Financially independent young adults recreation
• Travel
• Sport fitness clubs
• Culture
• Financially limited young adults
• Free low cost activities
• Close to home recreation

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Recreation in the Lives of Adults

• Middle adults
• 45-65
• Many thinking about retirement
• Financially stable adults
• Experiences
• Empty nesters
• Travel
• Culture
• Financially limited adults
• Same as young adults
• Survival is most important

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Think, Pair, Share

• What leisure activities do your
  parents/aunts/uncles do?

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Recreation in the Lives of Older Adults

• 65
• Retired
• Children gone from household
• Other changes in family structure????
• Issues.

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Recreation in the Lives of Older Adults

• In US
• Senior living communities
• Nursing homes
• Adults retiring more wealthy
• More grandparents are raising their grandchildren
• Healthier than ever
• Want experiences
• Living longer
• Retiring in warm communities
• RVing increasing
• Isolation
• Volunteerism increasing
• Elderhostel
• Computer literacy increasing

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Think, Pair, Share

• At what stage in the lifespan is leisure most
  important to our physical, emotional,
  intellectual, and social development?
• Why?

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Motivation

• Why do people watch television, play sports,
  climb Mount Everest???

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Motivation

• Driving factors to do things
• Intrinsic
• Things that drive a certain behavior simply for
  the behavior itself how it feels
• Completing a 100 mi. bike ride
• Scaling a mountain
• Extrinsic
• Things that drive a certain behavior but are
  controlled by an external force
• Professional athletes salary
• Wagers on golf

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Personal Motivators

• Physical
• Social
• Psychological
• Emotional, intellectual, spiritual

Compared to lifespan development Physical
Emotional Intellectual Social
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Personal Motivators

• Physical
• Control obesity
• Preserve cardiovascular health
• Achieve wellness

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Personal Motivators

• Physical
• Control obesity
• Due to inactivity
• Race, gender, income, education impact obesity
• 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day 30
  minutes of vigorous activity 3-4 times per week
• Preserve cardiovascular health
• Physical activity reduces cardiovascular disease
• blood pressure, heart attack, stroke
• Most effective activities are enjoyable with a
  recreation element
• Socialization, competition developing skills
  key to lifelong activity

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Personal Motivators

• Physical
• Achieve wellness
• Combined physical, emotional, social health
• Research shows active satisfying leisure
  experiences throughout lifespan contribute
  significantly to wellness

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Personal Motivators

• Social
• Being with others, reducing loneliness
• Most adults find primary social contacts through
  leisure not work
• Social interaction often primary purpose of
  leisure
• 2 of all leisure activities done alone
• Loneliness can have negative consequences
• Physical illness, alcoholism, depression
• Solitude escape focus totally on oneself

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Personal Motivators

• Psychological
• Excitement challenge
• Spectatorship movies, sports
• Risk taking motivators - Outdoor recreation,
  amusement parks
• Deviant behavior comes from same motivators
• Relaxation escape
• 1 of the most important benefits of recreation
• Respite from lifes worries pressures
• Need to relax to enjoy leisure
• Can come from physical or passive activities

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Personal Motivators

• Psychological
• Stress Management
• Relaxation helps reduce stress
• Can come from physical or passive activities
• Healthy balance of work play
• Emotional well being strengthened by balance
• Workaholism
• Excessive emphasis on work, less on leisure
• Need for employee recreation???

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Personal Motivators

• Emotional, intellectual, spiritual
• Emotional motivators
• Pleasure, satisfaction, fun, joy
• Maslows Hierarchy of Needs.

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Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
Self Actualization
Self-esteem
Ego (love)
Safety
Physiological
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Physiological Needs

• Strongest needs because a person cannot survive
  without
• Food
• Water
• Oxygen

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Safety Needs

• Adults have little awareness of their security
  needs except during times of emergency
• Children are the opposite and often display signs
  of insecurity and need to be safe

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Social - Needs of Love

• Affection and belongingness can emerge
• People seek to overcome loneliness

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Needs of Esteem

• The need of self-esteem and the esteem from
  others
• When this need is met, confidence occurs
• When this need is not met, a person feels
  inferior and weak
• Sense of achievement
• Enhanced status

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Self-Actualization

• A persons need to be and do what they were born
  to do.
• An artist must paint
• A musician must make music
• Realize ones maximum potential

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Think, Pair, Share

• What levels of the Hierarchy can leisure fulfill?

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Personal Motivators

• Emotional, intellectual, spiritual
• Intellectual motivators
• Least widely recognized
• Play?
• Games?
• Physical activity exposure to nature increase
  cognition
• Link between fitness academic performance

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Personal Motivators

• Emotional, intellectual, spiritual
• Spiritual motivators
• The capacity for exhibiting humanitys higher
  nature
• Moral values, compassion, respect for others
  earth
• Sense of order purpose
• How can leisure contribute to spirituality?
• Nature appreciation, solitude, escape, outdoor
  recreation

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Personal Motivators - Summary

• Leisure means something different to everyone
• We all have different motives
• All seek different outcomes
• Bike ride
• Health
• Stress relief
• Environmental factors

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Leisure at 50
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Leisure at 50

• Travel
• Relaxation
• Do new things
• Go to countryside
• Time with family pets
• Garden, grow plants trees
• Visit many temples

• Time in nature
• Yoga
• Cooking
• Shopping
• Go to beach
• Family time
• Exercise
• Learn about life
• Fishing

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Constraints to Leisure
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Think, Pair, Share

• Choose an activity you want to do, but have not
  done yet.
• Why havent you done it?

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Leisure Constraints

• Constraints
• When individual in unable to participate
• Unable to participate as much as desired
• Quality of experience is diminished

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Leisure Constraints

• Leisure constraints have been broken down to
  three distinct types of constraints
• Structural Constraints
• Intrapersonal Constraints
• Interpersonal Constraints

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Structural Constraints

• Factors that intervene between desire and actual
  participation
• Considered concrete barriers
• Architectural barriers
• Facility accessibility
• Economic barriers
• High program fees
• Equipment costs, transportation
• Time
• Knowledge of opportunities

• Trip to Thailand
• Time
• Flight
• Cost

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Intrapersonal Constraints

• Psychological states and attributes that
  intervene with leisure preferences
• Affect preference interest
• Examples.

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Intrapersonal Constraints

• Predispose people to define certain activities as
  inappropriate or appropriate.
• Aerobics classes
• Football league
• Lack of skill
• Self-consciousness
• Joining a gym
• Dont think we like activity
• Single mom golf

• Trip to Thailand
• Language
• Cultural understanding

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Interpersonal Constraints

• Barriers that arise out of social interactions
  with friends, family, and others.
• Occurs when differences arise between friends or
  family in leisure interests
• Lacking someone to participate with
• Participate because friends want to

• Trip to Thailand
• Travel companion

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Other Constraint Issues

• Frequency or Intensity constraint
• Negotiating constraints
• Accessibility
• Education
• Increased opportunities

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Questions?