Grasping the meaning of leisure: developing a self-report measurement tool

Work hard, play hard: Leisure satisfaction and work engagement among Turkish women1

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have found physical activity to be associated with decreased organizational cynicism and low performanceOBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to examine work engagement and leisure satisfaction in Turkish women with regard to recreational physical activity participation and marital status, and to test the relationship between age and work experience, work engagement and leisure satisfaction.

METHODS

Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and Leisure Satisfaction Scale (LSS) were administered to assess women workers' work engagement and leisure satisfaction. The sample for this project consisted of 317 women workers living in Turkey Ankara.

RESULTS

The analysis indicated that there were statistically significant differences in all sub-dimensions of UWES and LSS between single and married participants, with single participants having higher mean scores. There were also statistically significant differences in "vigor" and "dedication" sub-dimensions of UWES, and in all sub-dimensions of LSS regarding to recreational physical activity participation. The results demonstrated that the mean scores of physically active women are higher than the non-active group.

CONCLUSIONS

As a result, the data points to exercise participation as a rich source of information about work engagement and leisure satisfaction, and the positive use of leisure counseling as a work engagement.

Life transitions and leisure activity engagement in later life: findings from the Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS)

This study examined engagement in leisure activities among older adults, specifically focusing on how life transition factors in later life, including retirement and marital status, are associated with leisure activity engagement using a national sample of older American men and women. We conducted multiple regression analyses with a sample of 5,405 individuals (2,318 men; 3,087 women) from the Consumption and Activities Mail Survey, a supplementary sample of the Health and Retirement Study. We analysed activity engagement in each of four domains of leisure activities: mental, physical, social and religious. Retirement status was categorised into three groups: working (referent), completely retired and partly retired. Marital status was categorised into four groups: married (referent), divorced or separated, widowed and never married. We found an overall trend of a positive relationship between retirement and leisure activity engagement, which suggests that retirement provides a chance for older adults to participate in leisure activities after withdrawal from the labour force. The overall trend of a negative relationship between non-married status and leisure activity engagement suggests that the loss or absence of a spouse may serve as a barrier to participate in leisure activities. Nevertheless, variation among retirees and non-married individuals suggests future studies should compare completely and partly retired individuals or those who are widowed, divorced or separated, or never married to elucidate distinguishable leisure activity profiles.

Where Do Ethno-Linguistic Groups Meet? How Copresence during Free-Time Is Related to Copresence at Home and at Work

This paper analyzes ethnic segregation across the whole activity space—at place of residence, place of work, and during free-time. We focus on interethnic meeting potential during free-time, measured as copresence, and its relationship to copresence at place of residence and work. The study is based on cellphone data for a medium-sized linguistically divided European city (Tallinn, Estonia), where the Estonian majority and mainly Russian-speaking minority populations are of roughly equal size. The results show that both places of residence and work are segregated, while other activities occur in a far more integrated environment. Copresence during free-time is positively associated with copresence at place of residence and work, however, the relationship is very weak.

Work hard, play hard?: A comparison of male and female lawyers' time in paid and unpaid work and participation in leisure activities

There has been a considerable amount of research that documents how women and men spend their time in different work and home tasks. We examine how much time professional women and men spend in paid and unpaid work and how this relates to their participation in different leisure activities. We also explore whether time in paid and unpaid work has gender-specific effects on leisure participation. In examining these issues, we rely on data from lawyers working in different legal settings. Our results show that, as hypothesized, men report more time in paid work and leisure whereas women devote more time to housework and childcare. An unexpected finding is that the time men spend in housework or childcare is either unrelated or positively related to their leisure participation. These results suggest that men's greater overall opportunities for leisure compared with women's appear to stem from the unanticipated relationships between men's involvement in housework and childcare and their leisure activities. We raise several possible explanations for these findings.