The Common Leisure Preferences and the Factors that Affect the Choice - Research Paper Example

 Determine the Common Leisure Preferences and the Factors that Affect the Choice Introduction Due to the changes in the social environment and lifestyle through leisure activity participations, people obtain social, educational, and psychological benefits. Elements of leisure satisfaction, reduce fatigue, tension and increase a general life satisfaction as well as the individual performance. Leisure cannot only be described as a part of life, but part of our life’s education. Educational leisure is a very long process that involves the incorporations of the individual’s attitude and values of leisure. Leisure satisfaction is an experience that is very critical to the growth and the development of the young generations in the establishment of the leisure satisfaction patterns. The life patterns could only be understood by understanding the elements that motivate people to participate in leisure activities. This study will be restricted to the relationship between the elements of leisure motivation and leisure satisfaction for college student. Leisure has been studied by different analysts and at different stages in the development of the human life (Koka2013, p. 56). Many factors determine or affect the levels and the interests of satisfactory leisure in human beings, specifically the young generation. The greatest variable that has emerged as contributing to life satisfaction is the personal satisfaction from leisure (Chen, Li, & Chen 2013, p. 1190). Leisure contentment is very imperative, particularly in all the growth stages of life. The principle objective of this study is to determine the common leisure preferences and vividly determine and describe the factors that affect the choice. Literature Review Charles K. Brightbill defines leisure as a “block of unoccupied time, spare time, or the free time when we are free to rest or do what we chose. Leisure is time beyond that which is required for existence, the things which must be done biologically to stay alive (That is, sleep, eat, medicate and so on) and abstinence (Loesch& Wheeler 2002, p. 45). Moreover, it denotes other activities apart from the things that we must do to make a living as in work, or prepare to make a living as in school, or pay what we want done if we do not do it ourselves (Barkoukis et al 2010, p. 650). Leisure is the time in which our feelings of compulsion should be minimal, it is discretionary time, the time to be used according to our own choice and judgment and choice.” According to Charles, this definition simply refers to the use of leisure for personal satisfaction through activities that an individual likes the most. Leisure motive is the type of leisure that satisfies an individual’s demand. This refers to the drive for leisure activities in relation to the motive, activities and the desire of the participant are some of the factors that motivate an individual to indulge in leisure activities. Therefore, leisure motivation is the principle element that drives an individual’s leisure from which they attain the physical, emotional and the psychological satisfaction. For instance, most students do not play soccer, but they spend much of their time watching soccer or supporting their favourite teams, for example, the English Premier League teams(Barkoukis et al 2010, p. 660). These types of fans attain emotional satisfaction when their teams win. In addition, some lady fans enjoy watching soccer because they fancy the looks of certain players. In such a case, the motivating factor is the emotional satisfaction that the lady attains after watching the handsome player in action (Barnett 2003, p. 89). Leisure motivational activities can be divided into internal leisure activities and the external leisure activities. Internal motivation is defined as the basic element that is likely to drive an individual to indulge themselves in leisure activities that in addition bring them benefit. Such kinds of motivation come from within an individual. External motivation refers to the external leisure stimulus. Such external leisure elements include peer from the society or friends. For example, some ladies claim to only spend their time watching soccer when their boyfriends are watching(Barkoukis et al 2010, p. 657). Participation in leisure activities enables one to enjoy life to the fullest and improves the interpersonal relationships, learning of specialized skills, adventure, as well as the feeling of success. For instance, most fans always want to associate themselves with the winning team or the high performing teams. On the other hand, the a higher percentage of ladies that spend their time watching soap operas want to associate themselves with the good looking actors. All those factors satisfy the specific individual either emotionally or physically. However, it should be noted that life satisfaction is only achieved when the leisure motivation is attained through the factors discussed above. The levels of leisure motivation have such a strong positive influence on the level of life satisfaction (Burton & Jackson 1999, p. 76). Life satisfaction on the other hand has a wide range of levels some of which include health, entertainment, and strengthening of family relations. The above are very strong elements that influence life satisfaction. Life satisfaction in leisure involves a cognitive evaluation of life. Leisure therefore creates a positive feeling thereby improving the life of the individual in question into a life that is filled with happiness and high quality(Barkoukis et al 2010, p. 659). According to analysts, a higher level of leisure motivation into participation of an activity is likely to translate to a higher the level of life satisfaction. This implies that, if the leisure motivation is high, an individual is likely to have a relaxed life, increase self-confidence, relieve stress, and above all increase the levels of life satisfaction(Burton & Jackson 1999, p. 76). Therefore, this research forms a basis for a hypothesis creation, that is, “leisure motivation has a positive influence on the leisure benefit.” Methodology Questionnaire Design Questionnaire structure 1. In your spare time, what type of leisure activities do you indulge yourself in? (Tick appropriate) Play soccer Watch soccer Play baseball Watch baseball Swimming Other (Specify) 2. Who do you spend your free time with? Family Boyfriend / Girlfriend Friends Fellow team members Others (specify) 3. What or who motivates you to choose the kind of leisure activity to participate in? Friends Family The media Boyfriend / Girlfriend Others (specify) 4. If you were to choose an event to be made regularly in this area, what would you choose? Soccer team Swimming pool Tennis court Motor events Other (Specify) 5. Are there other activities you have seen outside the United Kingdom and you would love them introduced here? If YES, why? 6. What do you indulge in sports? 1-social factors 2-stimulus factors 3-intellectual factors 4-competence factors 5-Personal factors 7. How much sports contribute to the happiness in your life in general, answer according to 1-5 1-very much 2-quite much 3-average 4-minimal 5- in no way 8. Would you say that you have enough leisure time? Yes No 9. On average, how much time do you spend weekly on leisure? Evidently, the above questionnaire design was developed for data collection in this study in abid to determine the preferences of students when it comes to the issue of leisure. As many research experts have highlighted, questionnaires are an effective strategy that can be adopted in many quantitative studies. Questionnaires are realistic data collection tools that do not consume much time compared to interviews. Moreover, it is possible to capture the opinion of many. In addition, questionnaires have proven to be standardized tools of data collection since all respondents fill in a similar questionnaire, and this clears any form of bias. Moreover, experts have appraised the use of questionnaires, as they are easy to analyse with data evaluation tools such as SPSS, appearing to be easier data collection methods to analyse scientifically. This will be a randomized study since the survey will target as many participants as possible from the University. After data collection, analysis, evaluation, and validation of data will follow using statistical tools such as SPSS (Chen, Li, & Chen 2013, p. 1189). Administration of the questionnaires for the study The questionnaires distributed in a random manner to university students undertaking different courses. In a bid to ensure that many students are accessed, the research arranged for class representatives of different courses to have interested individuals present their names and contacts. After signing the consent forms, the students proceeded to fill in the questionnaire. Sampling This research study targeted the population of a United Kingdom university with a high population. The result sought to determine the preferences for different students in the area of leisure, and the factors that affect their choices (Burton & Jackson 1999, p. 87). . Therefore, the focus was to collect data from as many students ad possible in a bid to yield a reliable sample that could be used in the data analysis. However, it proved evident that it was difficult to have a large sample to minimize the complications of analysis. Therefore, 150 students whose data were used to develop this research paper consented, and filled in the questionnaires. Justification for the questions used in the questionnaires Evidently, the study focused on identifying the preferences of the students when making decisions regarding the ways in which they spent their leisure time. Moreover, the study also sought to determine the factors that influenced such choices, as well as people who were critical contributors to the choices (Lawton & Teresi 2006, p. 34). Therefore, questions were formulated that targeted to identify such preferences. The first four questions presented students with an opportunity to choose from the different options available. The options indicatedin each of the questions had been well researched and identified as someof the top choices for most students in the university. Limiting the choice of the common choices narrowed down the research to lesser variables, making the data analysis easier. Questions five to ten were open questions that allowed the participants to provide the answers that they felt suited them best (Pieper & Pieper 2009, p. 90). The aim of the questions asked in this research conformed to the objectives of the study. Their simplistic nature made it easy for the students to understand the requirements of the questions. Therefore, they had an easy time answering. Two of the questions used the five-point scale and it sought to determine the contribution of sports to the happiness of the students. Reliability and validity The use of SPSS as the preferred analytic tool served to ensure a measure of reliability and validity. The data collected from the students underwent a rigorous analysis to yield the results provided in the results section. For questions 1-4, the percentage preferences were calculated for each of the choices and tabulated. Other techniques were used for analysing the data obtained from the other questions. For questions seven, the standard deviation calculation for the five-point analysis was done. The SPSS tool allows a high margin of validity as there are controls for both type 1 and type 2 errors. Results Presented in tables Results for question one Watching and playing soccer 66% Watching and playing baseball 27.1% Swimming 6.9 Results for question two Spending time Percentage Family 50 Friends 33 Girlfriend/boyfriend 7 Team members and others 10 Question three results Influencing factors in the choice of leisure Percentage Friends 46 Family 34 Media 10 Others 10 Results for question four Preferred regular choice Percentage Soccer team 46 Swimming pool 23 Tennis court 17 Motor events 14 Table for Question 8 Time for sports Percentage 1-3 hours weekly 56 3-5 hours weekly 44% Analysis of the Results Students were expected to answer simple diverse sports questions and the following were the results that were obtained. From the sample population chosen, 66% of the students played and watched soccer while 27% of the target population watch and play baseball while the remaining percentage of the population, 7% preferred swimming to playing or watching soccer and baseball. The above results are a good explication that male students preferred watching soccer because only 1% of the target population that preferred swimming was male. This is an indication that, the physical state of a sport is a motivating element in the choice of leisure activity for the male students. Therefore, from the above results, it was clear that the female student’s preferences for sporty leisure activities is relatively low and that the physical nature of the sport is also a motivating factor for the choice of leisure activities for them. The results were tabulated in the tables section. The second section of the questionnaire gave somewhat interesting results in that, 50% of the targeted population preferred spending time with their family, and in addition to that, the largest percentage constituted the females. In addition, 33% of the population spent much of its leisure time with friends, 7% did spend their leisure with their lovers and the remaining percentage, and 10% spent much of their free time with team members. The largest percentage of the target group that spent much of its time with team members constituted the male students. This question also brought an aspect of family and romantic attachment aspects of leisure. The results above indicate that, the largest percentage of the targeted population, which constituted the female genre, was more attached to family, friends, and romance (Burton & Jackson 1999, p. 99). This is an indication that the emotional aspect of the choice of leisure activities for both male and female students is more depended upon the emotional attachment to family, romance, and friends. This research further explained the environmental influence in the choice of leisure activities. The environmental factors in the study represented the friends, family, media or any other that were not covered in the questionnaire. Friendship was the greatest aspect that influenced the choice of leisure activity with a 46%, followed by family influence with a 36%, followed by the media, and other factors, each having a 10% influence to the choice of leisure activities for the targeted population(Burton & Jackson 1999, p. 123). The question three sections in the questionnaire required the students to identify the sport they preferred the most and soccer had the greatest percentage of 46% and the largest percentage of that constituted the male students. Swimming was the next sport and is most liked by the targeted population, and the greatest percentage in this represented the female students. Lawn tennis came third with a 17%, while 14% represented the target population that preferred motor sports within the school’s environment. From the results presented by the students to the fifth question, it became evident that the university administration needed to introduce a diverse range of sporting activities as the students highlighted that they had an evident interest in other sports such as billiards, bowling, inline skating, and golf. In the view of many students, the thrill associated with such sports was the reason why they would champion for their introduction in the university. As expected, there were many preferences highlighted by the students. The preferences were determined by the factors highlighted. The choices depended on external motivation refers to the external leisure stimulus. Such external leisure elements include peer from the society or friends. For example, some ladies claim to only spend their time watching soccer when their boyfriends are watching. In other cases, the family or friends motivated the students to opt for a certain sport as they enjoyed the company associated with such sporting events ((Meiai & Xuequan 2012, p. 1079). It emerged that students had quite a remarkable time that they could use in sports as 44% had between 3-5 hours. The rest of the students revealed that they had 1-3 hours weekly (Pieper & Pieper 2009, p.56). After the analysis of the data collected for questions six and 7, which relied on a five point scale that was analysed using SPSS tools, it emerged that social factors, stimulus, and competence factors were the leading motivators for students to participate in sports. Five point variables Mean Social factors 4.55 Competence factors 3.99 Stimulus factors 3.78 Personal factors 3.2 Intellectual factors 2.4 One of the questions sought to identify the contribution of sports in ensuring that an individual; achieved a measure of contentment and happiness in life (Iwasaki& University of Waterloo 2005, p. 65). If sports proved critical in adding value to the level of satisfaction in an individual’s life, then it was evident that they could indulge more in sports. From the results obtained in this research, it became evident that sports were a critical contributor to life’s happiness as the mean for this measure on the five-point scale was 4.35. Discussion and Conclusion Notably, from a psychological perspective on the benefits of leisure, when an individual benefit from the active participation of an activity, his/her motives for leisure participations becomes very high and will most probably participate in more leisure. Therefore, it is observed that, the motive of an individual’s participation in a leisure activity is to gain fulfilment that can be physical, emotional, or psychological. In addition, the motivation for the student’s participation in leisure influences their leisure benefits perception. Participation in leisure activities can effectively enhance one's relaxation, pressure relief, self-confidence and fulfils the life’s self-satisfaction (Maya& Xuequan 2012, p. 1078). The results of this study present leisure participation as an intermediary between leisure motivation and life satisfaction and thus highlight the benefits of leisure participatory activities. Therefore, adequate guidance on the importance of leisure participation should be emphasized in learning institutions through seminars or learning activities. This does not only bring about the life’s satisfactions, but also enhances a healthy living of individual in the subject as well as propel their performances. This study does not exhaust what has to be understood about the motivating influence in leisure activities and therefore more researches should be done for further understanding of this phenomenon. Bibliography Barkoukis, V, Hagger, M, Lambropoulos, G, & Tsorbatzoudis, H 2010, 'Extending the trans-contextual model in physical education and leisure-time contexts: Examining the role of basic psychological need satisfaction', British Journal Of Educational Psychology, 80, 4, pp. 647-670, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 30 April 2014. Barnett, LA 2003, Research about leisure: Past, present, and future, Champaign, Ill: Sagamore. Burton, T. L., & Jackson, EL1999, Leisure studies: Prospects for the twenty-first century, State College, Pa: Venture Pub. 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