Preliminary Effects of a Leisure Education Program to Promote Healthy Use of Free Time among Middle School Adolescents

Psychometric evaluation of the Spanish version of the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment and Preferences for Activities of Children

“…Vaughter et al (1994) found that girls participated in a variety of leisure activities while boys' participation was dominated by team sports. Caldwell et al (2004) also found gender differences; boys spent more time in natural places than females, while females spent more time in school and community clubs than males. In a recent publication about predictors of leisure and recreation participation of children with physical disabilities, King et al (2006) found that the direct predictors of children's intensity participation in formal and informal activities were child functional ability, family participation in social and recreational activities and child preferences for formal and informal activities, and that the indirect predictors were family cohesion, supportive relationships and others.…”

Interest, inferences, and learning from texts

“…Interest was included to provide a simple and explicit measure of the participant's interest. Boredom, considered the opposite of interest (Caldwell, Baldwin, Walls, & Smith, 2004;Hunter & Csikszentmihalyi, 2003) was included so that the participant would be prompted to think differently about their level of interest in the topic. Engagement is considered a defining aspect of topic interest; if one is interested in a topic, then one is engaged in that topic (Frick, 1992).…”

Free-Time Management amongst Generation Y Students

“…Larsen, McGraw and Cacioppo (2001) state that leisure activities enhance individual growth and development and represent an important part of life, particularly for the youth. Caldwell et al (2004) opine that engaging in leisure activities facilitates the development of self-identity amongst the youth in that it provides a safe and relaxed environment for the type of learning that influences life decisions, thereby contributing to the successful transition into adulthood. Furthermore, leisure pursuits are thought to lead to greater life satisfaction and well-being (Säfvenbom & Samdahl, 1998;Wang & Kao, 2006).…”

“…Schiano, Elliott and Bellotti (2007) add that Generation Y members have a great deal more leisure opportunities from which to choose than any previous generation. Caldwell et al (2004) opine that students experience an increased degree of freedom, and that the time they spend at higher education institutions (HEIs) is often associated with role and identity experimentation, and self-managed free time leisure pursuits. Generally, this is the first time in their lives that they are able to choose how to spend their free time without parental interference and, as such, provides a good indication of their free-time management capabilities.…”

“…Freetime management studies include the free time motivation (Baldwin & Caldwell, 2003;Caldwell, Baldwin, Walls & Smith, 2004), the time pressure between discretionary and free time (Goodin, Rice, Bittman & Saunders, 2005), the factors affecting free-time behaviour (Zarotis et al, 2007), the relationship between free-time management and quality of life (Wang & Kao, 2006) and the relationship between free-time management and boredom (Wang, Wu, Wu & Huan, 2012). In South Africa, studies of free-time use and experiences were conducted by Møller (1992), Kaufman, Clark, Manzini and May (2002), and Palen, Caldwell, Smith, Gileeson and Patrick (2011) -all of which focused on the South African youth.…”