Perceptions of Leisure and Recreation

Introduction

Leisure and recreation has become an essential part in the lives of Australian's. Leisure is defined in 'Exploring Pass' textbook as 'time spent free of obligation or duty'. Recreation, defined in the dictionary, means 'activity done for enjoyment when one is not working'. Leisure and recreation are subjective in nature, meaning it is a personal based opinion and not all people enjoy the same activities. These choices may be influenced by a number of factors including age, gender, geographic location, religion/culture, socio-economic, disability/injury, media or technology.

Background

In PASS, we have been studying perceptions of leisure and recreation. Each persons perceptions are different, with a number of factors influencing their participation in leisure and recreation. Throughout this report I often refer to the 'Exploring Pass' textbook for statistics. As my main source of information, it provided good research and valid statistics. I also conducted a survey with 25 participants, which helped me to make concluding statements about people's participation in leisure and recreation activities. Other secondary sources such as websites and newspaper articles were used to aid research in this report.

Age

The age of a person is one of the main influences on their participation in leisure and recreation. A persons age often determines their physical abilities as well as commitments and time available for leisure and recreation. For the purpose of this report, the population can be divided into three groups. People aged between 11 - 17 years will be classified as the youth. 20 - 40 year olds will be recognised as young people and people over 40 will be classified as older people.

The youth's participation in leisure and recreation is unique. There are a number of contributing factors that affect participation. Out of the 6 people surveyed, 5 of them identified time as being the main barrier of leisure and recreation. As the youth attends school everyday and many have work commitments, time restricts the amount of leisure and recreation they have. However, according to the book, 'Exploring Physical and Sport', the youths have the highest participation level in sport and recreation with 75%of those aged between 15 - 17 year olds participating in some sort of physical recreation in 2006. 100% of youths surveyed agreed that they enjoy participating in recreation activities, with water sports, running and various types of football being the most popular active recreational activities. Leisure time among the youth is fairly consistent with the majority of survey takers having 1 - 3 hours of leisure time during the week and 4 - 6 hours on the weekend. This shows that the youth has the same amount of leisure time on weekdays as young people, but significantly less leisure time on the weekends. Youth activities conducted during leisure time often involve technology with the favourite passive recreation activities are being on the computer or phone, watching TV and listening to music. From the information sourced from surveys and 'Exploring Pass' it is visible that age has a large impact on the participation in recreation and leisure of the youth.

Young People in my report are classified as 20 - 40 year olds. As stated above, they generally have the same amount of leisure time on weekdays with more leisure time on weekends. People in this age bracket are often limited to their opportunities as they have other commitments including family and work commitments. 24% of people in the survey identified work as being a factor that limits their participation in leisure and recreation activities and 11% had injuries. Trends in the activities in which they participate in, are similar to the activities of the youth. Walking is the preferred physical activity and watching TV and being on the computer or phone are the most popular passive activities.

As people get older, they begin to participate in more relaxing and passive recreational activities. 100% of people surveyed believe that their age or gender often or sometimes is a factor in their participation in recreational activities as opposed to 33% of young people and 50% of youths. 1 person from the survey identified age as being a factor that stops them from participating in leisure and recreation activities. From the survey, we can see that the some of the older people have less than one hour per day of leisure time. This is seen in no other group. This may be because of work and family commitments. Elderly people may also be limited in the amount of activities they can physically participate in due to diseases like osteoporosis. There was a larger majority of older people participating in passive recreational activities often rather than physical activities. This proves that age is a large factor in the participation of recreational and leisure activities.

Gender

Gender has an impact on the participation of recreation and leisure. From my survey, I have discovered that women have more leisure time than males. According to the Australian Sports Commission, participation in physical recreational activities was higher in women in all age groups except the 15 - 24 year olds. They also state that, although females participated more regularly, males participated longer. Often, sports and recreation are dominated by men. This often turns women away although, today, businesses and sports groups are taking a special approach to women. For example, Fernwood, a women only gym, help to make women more involved in physical activity. The Newcastle LGA has found that recreational activities and services for the youth are geared more to appear towards male participants than females. The ABS shows that the amount of free time, differs between males and females with men having 5 hours and 8 minutes per day of free time while women spent only 4 hours and 44 minutes on free time activities in 2006. Being male or female can mean different amounts and types of leisure and recreation.

Geographic Location

The geographic location of a person affects their participation in leisure and recreation. People living in coastal locations have the opportunity to participate in leisure and recreation activities at the beach. Activities which are widely available in larger cities, may not be available to rural towns as they do not draw the same audience needed to host the activity. Although, it may seem like living in a larger city is an advantage and increase the amount of recreation and leisure activities but we often find ourselves paying much more or