Leisure time sports and exercise activities during the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey of working parents

Abstract

Many working parents experienced a double burden of fulltime employment and increased childcare obligations during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. This paper explores how this twofold burden affected leisure time sports and exercise (LTSE). Following a gender inequality perspective, it is assumed that the level of LTSE of working mothers are more negatively affected by the pandemic than LTSE levels of working fathers. Using the nation-wide representative SPOVID survey, the paper analyses data of all respondents in fulltime employment (N = 631). Data collection took place in October and November 2020 in collaboration with Forsa, a leading corporation for public opinion polls in Germany. Results show that the pandemic led to a reduction of LTSE levels, but with considerable variation between working mothers and fathers. Fulltime working mothers reduced their LTSE by a substantial margin (54 min per week), but not working fathers. It is concluded that the double burden of work demands and childcare duties in the pandemic was largely shouldered by mothers, who then faced greater difficulties to remain active.

The impact of COVID-19 restrictions on Australians' frequency and duration of participation in different types of sport and physical activity

“…Second, we found that in general the frequency of participation of men showed a steeper decline than that of women. This is contrary to many other studies that have found that women and girls participation and health declined more under COVID-19 than that of boys and men [ 14 , 24 , 25 ]. This is reportedly due to the additional impact on women of the care burden of children, home schooling, and looking after sick family members, and of women being more impacted by job losses [ 14 , 24 , 25 ].…”

“…This is contrary to many other studies that have found that women and girls participation and health declined more under COVID-19 than that of boys and men [ 14 , 24 , 25 ]. This is reportedly due to the additional impact on women of the care burden of children, home schooling, and looking after sick family members, and of women being more impacted by job losses [ 14 , 24 , 25 ]. However, there is also other evidence that individuals who were active within sports clubs were less likely to exercise during COVID-19 restrictions [ 26 ].…”

“…COVID-19 has impacted individuals’ sport and physical activity participation in different ways, in regard to activity status pre-COVID but also in regard to a range of personal characteristics and experiences during COVID-19, with some demographic groups impacted more severely than others. For example, a study of working adults reported that leisure-time physical activity was more negatively impacted for working mothers than fathers, due to a greater burden on mothers who had to juggle work demands and childcare duties including home-schooling [ 14 ]. In addition, given the differences in participation in sport and physical activity patterns across age groups pre-COVID-19, the pandemic is likely to have exacerbated these difference in participation patterns across age groups.…”

Exploring the Impacts of Urban Community Leisure on Subjective Well-Being during COVID-19: A Mixed Methods Case Study

“…First, pandemic influence and leisure environment have a positive effect on leisure satisfaction. Such relationships have been observed in previous studies, which have confirmed that the pandemic indirectly improved leisure satisfaction by making people more attentive to and engaged in leisure activities [ 29 ]. Additionally, Li et al [ 63 ] suggested that a sense of community is positively associated with street greenery at the community level.…”

“…After the COVID-19 outbreak, urban community residents began to pay much more attention to the different elements of leisure, such as leisure time, leisure activities, and leisure environments [ 28 ]. During the pandemic, leisure activities, especially sports and exercise activities, were associated with positive emotions and high levels of life satisfaction, in addition to good physical health [ 29 ]. Therefore, the pandemic influence may play a positive role in leisure satisfaction through a particular mechanism.…”