Gordon J. Walker

Ethnic/Racial and Gender Variations Among Meanings Given to, and Preferences for, the Natural Environment

The purpose of this study was to explore how ethnicity/race and gender, in combination, influence person-natural environment interactions. The sample consisted of 525 university students equally representing Black, Hispanic, and White ethnic/racial groups. Two research questions were developed and examined: (a) how ethnicity/race and gender are related to the affective meanings attached to the natural environment, and (b) how ethnicity/race and gender influence preference for environmental settings in outdoor recreation. The results for both research questions suggest that ethnicity/race and gender influence the affective meanings attached to a forest environment and the environmental settings preferred for outdoor recreation. Further analyses were performed across the 12 affective meaning scales on forest environments and six environmental setting preference scales. Differences in meanings and preferences across the ethnicity/race and gender attributes are presented and discussed. The final section of th...

A Comparison of Environmental Values and Attitudes Between Chinese in Canada and Anglo-Canadians

This study examines similarities and differences in environmental values and attitudes between two cultural groups—Chinese in Canada and Anglo-Canadians. The results indicate that Chinese are more supportive of social-altruistic values than are Anglo-Canadians. However, the two groups are not significantly different in biospheric values. Moreover, both groups are significantly different in two of four new environmental paradigm (NEP) subscales— limits to growth and antianthropocentrism—whereas their attitudes toward the other two NEP subscales— eco-crisis and balance-of-nature—are similar. Study results also suggest that biospheric values are closely related to the NEP, whereas social-altruistic values are not. In addition, acculturation does not consistently affect all six subscales, suggesting that Chinese in Canada may have adopted a selective acculturation pattern. Finally, this studys findings also endorse some previous research that proposes that value orientations may be more helpful in understanding environmental concern than sociodemographic variables such as age, education, and income.

The Effects of Ethnicity and Leisure Satisfaction on Happiness, Peacefulness, and Quality of Life

The purpose of this study was to examine how ethnicity and leisure satisfaction affected peoples happiness, peacefulness, and quality of life. A trilingual telephone survey of Chinese/Canadians (N = 261) and British/Canadians (N = 258) was conducted. Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that sex had no significant effect on any regressors. Ethnicity significantly affected standard of living, achieving in life, and life as a whole. Overall leisure satisfaction significantly affected happiness, peacefulness, and all nine quality of life domains. Canonical correlations also showed that happiness and achieving in life were positively correlated for British/Canadians and happiness and personal relationships were positively correlated for some Chinese/Canadians. Peacefulness was positively correlated with spirituality/religion and community connectedness, but negatively correlated with personal relationships, for some Chinese/Canadians. Implications and research recommendations are provided.

Ethnicity, gender, and the theory of planned behavior: the case of playing the lottery.

This study uses the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain why some people play the lottery, and it examines how the TPBs variables and variable relationships differ due to ethnicity, or gender, or their interaction. A telephone interview conducted in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin resulted in data on the lottery play intentions of 208 Chinese/Canadians (97 males, 111 females) and 220 British/Canadians (112 males, 108 females). When intention to play the lottery was regressed on six TPB variables, it was found that: (a) affective attitude was an important predictor for all four groups, while instrumental attitude was only important for British/Canadian males; (b) injunctive norm was an important predictor only for Chinese/Canadian males, while descriptive norm was an important predictor only for British/Canadian males; (c) controllability was an important predictor only for Chinese/Canadian females, with a negative coefficient suggesting secondary control; and (d) self-efficacy was not an important predictor for any of the groups. A follow-up mail questionnaire provided additional data on the self-reported lottery play behavior of 100 Chinese/Canadians (51 males, 49 females) and 115 British/Canadians (57 males, 58 females) 30 days after the initial telephone interview was conducted. When lottery play behavior was regressed on self-efficacy, controllability, and intention, intention was found to be an important predictor for all four groups. These findings are discussed in light of recent research on the TPB, leisure and gambling, and ethnicity and gender.

Culture, Self-Construal, and Leisure Theory and Practice

According to Markus and Kitayama (1991), although European North Americans are more likely to have independent self-construals (and therefore to value being unique, expressing ones inner attributes, etc.), people in or from Asia, Africa, and Southern Europe are more likely to have interdependent self-construals (and therefore to value belonging, maintaining harmony, etc.). The type of self-construal a person has affects his or her emotions, cognitions, and motivations. In the case of intrinsic motivation, for example, it is often put forth that the key factor affecting this variable is autonomy/personal choice. Recent research suggests, however, that while this may be true for independent selves, relatedness may be more important for interdependent selves. Because intrinsic motivation and autonomy/personal choice are present in many leisure theories, and leisure theories often influence leisure practice, the concept of self-construal may have great import for our field. In order to support this proposition, this article: (a) describes what self-construal is and how it affects intrinsic motivation; (b) reviews some of the major leisure theories that include intrinsic motivation and discusses how the above may affect them; (c) outlines the implications of not incorporating self-construal into leisure practice, using benefits based programming (Rossman & Schlatter, 2000) as an exemplar; and (d) examines some of the conceptual and methodological concerns associated with self-construal.

Culture and leisure constraints: a comparison of Canadian and Mainland Chinese university students.

This study extends previous research on leisure constraints by developing a new, theory-based, inventory of intrapersonal leisure constraints items using the theory of planned behavior and self-determination theory as guiding frameworks, and then using the inventory to assess the cross-cultural validity of the hierarchical model of leisure constraints (Crawford, Jackson, & Godbey, 1991). These objectives are accomplished by comparing how perceptions of 10 intrapersonal constraints items and perceptions of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints affect starting a new leisure activity among university students in Canada and in Mainland China. English-and simplified Chinese-language questionnaires yielded useable data from 227 Canadian and 216 Mainland Chinese participants. Nine of 10 intrapersonal constraints items differed significantly, with Chinese students being more intrapersonally constrained than Canadians in all but one instance. A single combined measure of intrapersonal constraints was compared with similar indices for interpersonal and structural constraints. All three constraints categories differed significantly: Chinese students were more intra-and interpersonally constrained, while Canadian students were more structurally constrained. Despite these cultural differences, support for the hierarchical leisure constraints model was found in the data for both Chinese and Canadian students, indicating the general applicability of this framework across two cultures.

Leisure Constraint Theory and Sport Tourism

Participation in sport tourism is characterized by constraints. It is constrained by spatial barriers such as travel distance and physical barriers such as fitness, along with a broad range of other factors that have yet to be systematically considered. Leisure constraint theory provides a strong foundation from which to gain insight into this dimension of sport tourism. The merits of using this approach are articulated in this essay by first highlighting the existence of constraints in sport-related travel. Next, key developments in leisure constraint theory such as the introduction of the ideas of negotiation and a hierarchical order of constraint factors are presented. The most recent developments in modelling constraints are then described and considered in the realm of sport tourism in general. Finally, to illustrate the merit of leisure constraints models in a specific sport tourism context, downhill skiing is used as an exemplar.

Inter- and intra-gender similarities and differences in motivations for casino gambling.

Abstract The two objectives of this study were to examine if motivations for casino gambling vary by gender and, based on motivations for casino gambling, to ascertain different types of male and female gamblers. To accomplish these objectives, five casino motivation scales were developed. Nine hundred male and female casino patrons living in two major Canadian metropolitan areas completed a telephone questionnaire. Male study participants rated risk-taking/gambling as a rush and learning/cognitive self-classification as being more important than did female participants. Two types of male casino gamblers existed: men who gave primacy to risk-taking/gambling as a rush and emotional self-classification, and men who gave primacy to communing. Three types of female casino gamblers existed: women who gave primacy to emotional self-classification and escaping everyday problems, women who gave primacy to communing and emotional self-classification, and women who gave primacy to communing alone. Gender theory was used to explain these findings, and study limitations and future research recommendations also were discussed.

The ebb and flow of brief leisure experiences

Four leisure conditions were compared: (a) walking along a rural road, with frequent vista views of a Tuscan landscape; (b) walking in a completely built setting, within a city center; (c) sitting indoors with a panoramic window view of a rural setting; and (d) sitting in a small but comfortable room with no view. Assessed at the beginning, twice during, and at the conclusion of the leisure activity were eight dimensions of experience: anxiety, dullness, excitement, calmness, love, power of concentration, freedom, and self‐esteem. On balance, the ebbs and flows observed here suggest that on‐site leisure experiences are dynamic (i.e., change while on‐site), multiple dimensional, and complex (the dimensions’ ebbs and flows do not parallel one another). However, the findings are not clear as to whether it is the type of leisure (active or passive), the setting of leisure (rural or urban), or simply being at leisure that most determines the ebb and flow of a recreation experience. If anything, the results sug...

The Meaning of Leisure for Chinese/Canadians

This study examined the meaning of leisure for Chinese/Canadians. Participants (N = 35) completed a diary seven times a day for 12 days when a randomly scheduled watch alarm rang. Participants indicated what activity they were doing, whether it was work, leisure, both, or neither, and their motivations for and needs fulfilled by the activity. Participants primarily engaged in passive leisure activities, researchers and participants often differed in whether they deemed the activity leisure, and participants differentiated between leisure and non-leisure in terms of high intrinsic motivation, low effort, and low introjected reward motivation. In contrast with most Western research, perceived freedom was not an important distinguishing factor. A cross-cultural leisure meaning framework was developed to explain these findings.