Young People's Leisure and Risk-Taking Behaviours: Changes in Gender Patterning in the West of Scotland during the 1990s

Abstract

Until the 1990s, the literature on youth leisure characterised that of females as home-based, passive and largely absent from male-dominated subcultures.Contrasting with this, over the course of the 1990s, evidence emerged of increasing public visibility, reduced restrictions on activities and relatively greater increases in health-risk behaviours among females, together with suggestions of a domestification of leisure among males This paper uses data from two cohorts of 15 year olds in the same geographical area (the West of Scotland), separated by 12 years (1987 and 1999) to examine changes in the gender patterning of young people's leisure, use of public space and risk taking (as represented by substance use) over this time period. Gender differences in 'street-based' (previously more males) and 'conventional/safe' (previously more females) leisure disappeared over this period while male excesses in watching sports and computer game-playing increased. At the same time, female levels of drinking and experience of illicit drugs reached, and those of smoking overtook, their male counterparts. Additional analyses showed that changes in leisure activities over time accounted in part for the changing gender patterns in substance use. The paper discusses how greater public visibility and increased risk-taking behaviours among females have resulted from the lifting of constraints of respectability on young women's lifestyles. These changes have been rapid and have significance in both social and health terms.

Gender differences in teenage alcohol consumption and spatial practices

“…Yet though teenage girls may be more visible in public spaces, this does not necessarily imply gender-neutral experiences, particularly with reference to regulation of girls' and boys' behaviours. Changes in gendered practices also come about through shifts in boys' behaviour who are moving away from the street towards supervised and protected spaces through organised sports or in the home (McNamee 1998;Sweeting and West 2003).…”

Adolescent Development through Leisure: A Global Perspective

“…On the other hand, unstructured, informal, and passive activities are often associated with either "no outcome" (that is, there is no developmental benefit gained by participation; e.g., Mahoney, Stattin, & Magnusson, 2001) or with risk behavior (e.g., Vazsonyi, et al, 2002). Unstructured activities typically do not present youth with the opportunities typically inherent in structured activity (e.g., Mahoney et al).…”

“…Contemporary adolescents affect and are affected by globalization perhaps more than any other age group (Arnett, 2002) and, as a result, this generation often differs vastly from previous generations (e.g., Lagree, 2002b;Piko & Vazsonyi, 2004;Sweeting & West, 2003;Zvonovskii & Lutseva, 2004).…”

“…Yet, because there is no common language within or across cultures, comparisons are extremely difficult to make and grand theory building is almost impossible to do. For example, one study examining the differences in the gendered patterning of leisure and risk behaviors of Scottish youth over a 12 year pe-LINDA L. CALDWELL riod grouped leisure activities into street-based (e.g., going out nowhere), commercialized (e.g., cinema, discos or clubs), conventional1 safe (e.g., listening to music, looking around in shops) and sports and games (e.g., watching sports, computer games, taking part in sports) (Sweeting and West, 2003). Another group of research studies has focused more on the role of adults in structuring activities.…”

The Leisure of Young People in Contemporary Society

“…Groups of young women go out independently and claim public space -once a male prerogative -in town and city centres, bars and sports centres. An indication of the new times is gender convergence in rates of smoking, drug and alcohol consumption (Sweeting and West, 2003). Young males and females are equally likely to have paid employment.…”