Jiri Zuzanek

Leisure States and “Flow” Experiences: Testing Perceived Freedom and Intrinsic Motivation Hypotheses

Csikszentmihalyis flow construct has been suggested as a useful model for describing and operationalizing leisure experiences. Data collected during the daily lives of older adults with the Experi...

The relationships between stress, health, and physically active leisure as a function of life‐cycle

This article examines relationships between stress, health, and participation in physically active leisure using data collected as part of the 1985 and 1990 U.S. National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). In particular, the article analyzes: (a) the effects of life‐cycle progression (controlled for gender) on subjectively perceived stress and self‐reported health; (b) the role of physically active leisure in enhancing health or buffering adverse health outcomes of stress; and (c) the effects of selected social‐economic factors, such as education and income, on the relationships between life‐cycle, stress, health, and physically active leisure. According to our analyses: (1) stress is unevenly distributed across the life span; (2) stress‐reducing effects of physically active leisure are present among retired older people more so than in the middle‐aged life‐cycle groups; and (3) direct health‐enhancing effects of participation in physically active leisure are more evident than the buffering effects of leisu...

Time Use, Time Pressure, Personal Stress, Mental Health, and Life Satisfaction from a Life Cycle Perspective

Abstract The article examines relationships between the use of time, subjectively perceived time pressure, life stress, mental health, and life satisfaction from a life cycle perspective, using data collected as part of the 1986 and 1992 Canadian General Social Surveys, and the 1994 Canadian National Population Health Survey. Analyses reported in the article suggest that subjective sense of time pressure is grounded in objective reality. Respondents and life cycle groups reporting higher levels of perceived time pressure carry heavier loads of paid and unpaid work, and are limited in their access to leisure time resources. Low as well as excessive levels of time pressure seem to correlate negatively with mental health. Life‐cycle situation strongly affects respondents’ sense of life satisfaction and emotional well‐being. Employed married respondents in the 25 to 44 group, and particularly the 45 to 64 age group, with or without children at home, report the highest levels of emotional well being, in spite ...

Free time and leisure participation: international perspectives.

1. Introduction Grant Cushman, A. J. Veal and Jiri Zuzanek 2. Australia A.J. Veal 3. Canada Jiri Zuzanek 4. Finland Mirja Liikkanen and Hannu Paakkonen 5. France Nicole Samuel 6. Germany Walter Tokarski and Harald Michels 7. Great Britain Chris Gratton and A. J. Veal 8. Hong Kong Atara Sivan, Bob Robertson and Sue Walker 9. Israel Hillel Ruskin and Atara Sivan 10. Japan Munehiko Harada 11. Netherlands Wim Knulst and Hugo Van der Poel 12. New Zealand Sue Walker, Mary Donn and Allan Laidler 13. Poland Bhodan Jung 14. Russia I.A. Butenko 15. Spain Concepcion Maiztegui-Oate 16. United States of America: Outdoor Recreation H. K. Cordell, G. T. Green, V. R. Leeworthy, R. Stephens and C. J. Betz 17. United States of America: Time-use John P. Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey 18. Conclusion Grant Cushman, A. J. Veal and Jiri Zuzanek.

Work-leisure relationships from a sociological and social psychological perspective.

Some of the major theoretical approaches to the study of the work-leisure relationship are examined. Theoretical conceptualization is confronted with empirical findings and some avenues for further research are suggested. The first section maps some of the major approaches taken in the study of the work-leisure relationship in the social science literature. The second section focuses on the central issue in the debate on the work-leisure relationship, namely, the effects of the structure (content) of work and work-related attitudes on leisure behaviour and leisure-related attitudes. The third section examines empirical evidence collected by social scientists studying the work-leisure relationship. The fourth section attempts to answer the question of why social science research on the work-leisure relationship has produced, thus far, few conclusive and statistically significant findings. The final section summarizes the discussion and suggests certain research strategies for future sociological and socio-...

Life-cycle variations in across-the-week allocation of time to selected daily activities

Abstract In this paper, the relationships between three major concepts are examined: life-cycle, daily uses of time, and weekly rhythms of everyday life. Using data drawn from the 1986 General Social Survey (Canada), five life-cycle groupings are compared on the time each devotes to selected activities on each day of the week. Activities examined included work, domestic work, personal needs, and discretionary (leisure) time. Several significant differences are found between the various life-cycle groupings which appear to be attributable to situational circumstances associated with gender, marital status, employment status, and the presence of young children at home. The findings reported in the article point to the need to better understand the relationship between life-cycle and the weekly distribution of time.

Social differences in leisure behavior: Measurement and interpretation

This article examines how three major dimensions of leisure behavior, i.e., rates of leisure participation, money expenditure for leisure goods and services and discretionary time available for leisure pursuits, are distributed across various socio‐demographic and socio‐occupational groups. The money expenditures for leisure, it is argued, follow traditional class lines most closely; the rates of leisure participation are characterized by a more egalitarian distribution; and the amounts of leisure time are often inversely related to social centrality and social status. The article interprets these varying patterns of leisure inequalities as a function of the cumulative nature of leisure participation as opposed to the “finite” nature of leisure time, and as a reflection of the complex relationship between leisure, work, income, leisure class, and leisure status.

Life-cycle Squeeze, Time Pressure, Daily Stress, and Leisure Participation: A Canadian perspective

AbstractThis article addresses two corollary issues, namely, the relationship between life-cycle and chronic stress, and the effects of leisure participation on stress and health, controlled for life-cycle situation. Arguments have been made that levels of time pressure and perceived stress have risen in modern societies, but that these increases are unevenly distributed among different social demographic groups, in particular groups positioned at different stages of the life-course (Wilensky; 1981; Zuzanek, Robinson and Iwasaki, 1998). It has been also suggested that active life-styles, in particular participation in leisure activities, may serve as an effective tool for moderating negative health effects of stress. In the following analyses these two propositions are put to an empirical test. Data on stress, time pressure, health, and leisure participation, collected as part of the 1994 Canadian National Population Health Survey (n = 17,626), and the 1992 General Social (Time-Use) Survey (n = 9,815) are...

Adolescent Time Use and Well-being from a Comparative Perspective

Abstract This article compares adolescent time use in ten industrially developed countries and its changes over the past two decades. It builds upon the collective effort of researchers participating in the Comparative Study of Adolescent Time Use (CATUS). Data for the analyses were collected as part of national time use surveys administered by statistical agencies in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, and the United States, and by the Ontario Survey of Adolescent Time Use and Well-being (OATUS), conducted by the Research Group on Leisure and Cultural Development of the University of Waterloo. The article examines historical trends, as well as gender and age differences in the allocation of adolescents’ time to school-related activities, paid and domestic work, personal needs and free time activities. Relationships between different patterns of time use and their developmental and well-being outcomes are discussed based on time use and “experience sampling method” data (OATUS/ ESM). Special attention is paid to the emotional, well-being, and academic correlates of school-related time, part-time work, sleep, eating habits, mass media consumption, and relationship with parents and peers, participation in physically active leisure, and time pressure experienced by students.

Gender variations in the weekly rhythms of daily behaviour and experiences

Abstract Data used in this article were collected from 182 adults working for major blue‐collar and white‐collar employers in the Kitchener‐Waterloo area (Ontario, Canada) as part of the 1985 Experience Sampling Survey. This article discusses differences in daily lives and accompanying moods of employed population, as a function of gender and calendar week. The article addresses the following questions: (a)How does the weekly rhythm of daily and leisure activities vary by gender? (b) How do mens and womens motivations for engaging in daily activities vary across the week? (c) Do mens and womens experiential states vary across the week differently ? (d) How do the experiential states of men and women differ within the context of different daily activities? (e) How do the behavioral and experiential profiles of individual calendar days vary by gender?