Edgar L. Jackson

A hierarchical model of leisure constraints

Abstract The purpose of this article is to modify a conceptualization of leisure constraints offered by Crawford and Godbey (1987). It is suggested that Crawford and Godbeys three discrete models of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints should be recast as a single integrated model in which leisure participants are viewed as having negotiated a sequential, hierarchical series of constraints levels. Three propositions about the nature, operation, and sources of constraints are derived from this model. We further demonstrate how such a process might apply not only to leisure participation and nonparticipation, but also to the understanding of how constraints affect choices (e.g., specialization) among people who are already participating.

Negotiation of leisure constraints

Abstract Virtually all past leisure constraints research has been based on a conception of constraints as insurmountable obstacles to leisure participation. Thus, it has typically been assumed that if an individual encounters a constraint, the outcome will be nonparticipation. This article elaborates an alternative view of constraints that has recently begun to appear in the literature, summarized in the central proposition that leisure participation is dependent not on the absence of constraints but on negotiation through them. Such negotiation may modify participation rather than foreclosing it. Evidence from the existing literature for the negotiation proposition is examined, and five additional propositions are defined concerning relative success in negotiating constraints, interactions between different types of constraints, and balance between constraints and motivations.

Leisure constraints∗: A survey of past research

Abstract This paper provides a brief review of past research on leisure constraints, paying particular attention to conceptual and analytical issues and to the practical applications of investigating constraints on leisure behavior. Specific findings are not reviewed; the intention is to clarify concepts by focusing upon broadly‐defined methodological aspects of past research. These include the nature and role of constraints on leisure participation, the distinction between barriers and reasons (e.g., for non‐participation), and empirical and conceptual methods of classifying constraints. It is suggested that future investigations of leisure constraints will give rise to findings that can be generalized across time, space, and social groups only if they are based upon clearly‐defined and standardized concepts.

Gender‐based analysis of leisure constraints

Abstract Using data derived from two provincewide surveys of the general public of Alberta, Canada, two empirical questions were addressed: (a) What constraints to leisure do women and men experience, and (b) how does the context of personal and situational circumstances (e.g., age, income, and family structure) filter the effects of constraints among women and men ? Several differences emerged between women and men in terms of the intensity and nature of the constraints, leading to the conclusion that women are overall more constrained in their leisure than men. The data also demonstrate that the experience of leisure constraints is characterized by as many within‐gender differences as between‐gender differences. Selected context variables related to age, income, and family structure are mediating factors that alter, reinforce, or alleviate constraints for women, depending on the nature of the context and on the type of constraint. The study points to the need to think in terms of diversities and plurali...

Negotiation of leisure constraints by junior-high and high-school students: an exploratory study.

This exploratory paper has three objectives: (1) to develop categories for variables related to two key components of leisure constraints negotiation — problems encountered and negotiation strategi...

Recognizing patterns of leisure constraints: results from alternative analyses.

The use of cluster analysis shifts attention away from the “constraints-oriented perspective” typical in leisure constraints research (i.e., how a particular constraint or type of constraint affect...

Starting, Ceasing, and Replacing Leisure Activities over the Life-Span

Aggregate (sample-wide) and intrapersonal patterns of leisure behavior (starting, ceasing and replacing leisure activities) are examined as a function of successive developmental periods of the lif...

Socioeconomic variations in perceived barriers to recreation participation among would‐be participants

Abstract The effects of fifteen barriers to participation were examined among people who expressed a desire for but were unable to participate in a new recreational activity. Work commitments, overcrowding of facilities, and lack of partners were the three main barriers. The effects of barriers were not perceived uniformly across the sample but varied between subgroups defined according to socioeconomic variables: the people most likely to be affected by barriers to participation included the poor, the elderly, and single parents. The extent to which recreation practitioners can and should respond to these kinds of research findings is discussed, and several ways in which the effects of barriers to participation might be modified or alleviated are evaluated.

Outdoor recreation participation and attitudes to the environment.

Recreation researchers must explicitly recognize the influence of values on recreation behaviour. Values are usefully measured as attitudes to the environment. Two hypotheses developed by Dunlap and Heffernan (1975) are examined in a Canadian study: that participants in ‘appreciative’ activities (e.g. cross-country skiing, hiking) hold stronger pro-environmental attitudes than participants in ‘consumptive’ activities (hunting, fishing) or ‘mechanized’ activities (e.g. snowmobiling, trail biking); and that outdoor recreation participation is more strongly related to attitudes towards specific aspects of the environment necessary for pursuing such activities than to attitudes towards more ‘distant’ environmental issues. Both hypotheses are supported. Because the main attitudinal differences associated with activity preferences also characterize the values of the ‘conserver society’, changes from the consumer to the conserver society should result in a growing preference for appreciative activities and a dec...

Variations in the desire to begin a leisure activity: evidence of antecedent constraints?

This paper examines three assumptions in previous leisure constraints research: (1) that only two meaningful groups of non-participants exist (those who do not wish to participate, and those who do wish to participate, but for whom a constraint or combination of constaints precludes participation); (2) that lack of interest is the only factor which explains the lack of desire among the former group; and (3) that the only role played by constraints on leisure is negatively to affect participation, by intervening between preferences and participation. Using data from a public questionnaire study conducted in Alberta, Canada, the focus of the paper is on a group of non-participants who apparently did not wish to begin participating in a new activity. Based on innovative concepts recently proposed by Crawford and Godbey (1987) and by Henderson, Stalnaker & Taylor (1988), the findings are interpreted as evidence of “antecedent” barriers to participation, i.e., constraints which negatively affect leisure prefer...