The nature, causes, and effects of immediate conscious leisure experiences have long been central interests of scholars. Significant contributions to the field include Abraham Maslow's studies of ecstasy and peak experience, Sigmund Koch's descriptions of two forms of consciousness, John Neulinger's classification of immediate conscious experiences based on their motivational contexts, Michael J. Ellis' application of arousal theory to play, Howard and Diane Tinsley's theory of the leisure experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's career of inquiry into the "flow" phenomenon, and recently, the theory of structured experience (TSE). This paper reviews research on leisure as immediate conscious experience relating to development of TSE and informs new propositions strengthening the original theory (TSE 2.0) by (a) interpreting TSE in the context of previous research on leisure as immediate conscious experience of leisure, (b) summarizing, integrating, and critiquing research conducted to test propositions of TSE, and (c) proposing revisions to TSE based on completed research.

The body of family leisure research has grown over the past 25 years; however, efforts to quantitatively synthesize that body of literature have not been made. Therefore, we conducted a meta‐analysis of published and unpublished literature reporting on parent and adolescent child data regarding shared leisure experiences and family quality‐of‐life indicators across k = 23 articles identified from a broad, systematic search of literature. Using random effects, we measured the associations of (a) family leisure participation with family quality of life and (b) family leisure satisfaction with family quality of life. Results indicated significant associations of small to moderate effect sizes in both models. Moderating variables of marital status and nationality produced varying levels of influence on the effect size of the association between family leisure satisfaction and family quality.

Using themes (such as the Wild West or Survivor or Star Wars) in camp settings may enhance the quality of camp activities and youths' overall camp experience. We evaluated the effect of theming camp experiences on the quality of subjective experiences of campers. Campers (N = 231) in 3 sessions of a residential 4-H camp participated in the study. One camp session was fully themed (all activities used tangible and intangible props, cues, and imaginary story contexts), a second was partially themed (intangible cues and stories only), and the third was not themed. Questionnaires measuring the quality of immediate subjective experiences (N=1,847) were completed following each of 8 activity sessions (e.g., climbing, fishing, swimming). Campers also completed a questionnaire for the purpose of overall camp evaluation at the end of their camp sessions. Activity-level data were analyzed using linear mixed modeling techniques. Ordinary least-squares regression was used to analyze campers' overall camp experiences. Results at the activity level revealed significant theme-by-activity interaction effects. At the camp level, a hypothesized causal sequence linking theme to likelihood to recommend was supported.