Constraints to Leisure - Coursework Example

CONSTRAINTS TO LEISURE Student’s Name Course Professor’s Name University City (State) Date Constraints to Leisure Introduction Leisure constraints can be described as things that interfere with one’s ability to participate fully or access leisure. The three categories of constraints are structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal constraints. The intrapersonal constraints are individual psychological attributes that interfere with the activities that an individual finds enjoyable and the development of a person’s leisure preferences. They include memories of past negative socialization and poor self-confidence. The interpersonal constraints are the barriers that take place between friends and family during social interaction. These include communication difficulties, negative interactions, and patterns of social isolation, which makes it hard for one to enjoy leisure activities. Finally, structural constraints are things that reduce the chances of one participating in leisure activities as he or she desires. They include limited financial resources, lack of transportation, and inability to access community programs. In discussing constraints to leisure as the dark side of leisure, this paper explores the major conditions affecting recreation choice and leisure attitudes and the social psychological factors that underpin leisure in contemporary society. Intrapersonal constraints Intrapersonal constraints are the psychological characteristics or states that affect one’s leisure preferences. Some of the intrapersonal constraints that might affect the leisure preferences of an individual include personality needs, person’s abilities, perceived reference group attitudes, and prior socialization. While technically all people have situations or problems that prevent or limits what they do during their free time, one is likely to have a diminished quality life if he or she has frequent constraints to leisure. One of the major conditions that affect leisure is an individual’s personality, which determines the person’s attitude towards leisure. A person’s attitude may be influenced by the current situation of a person, be it work or school, or a carryover from his or her background (Rojek 2010). The attitude, need, and desire of an individual to participate in leisure activities translates into finding out the best type of leisure and the outcomes that one realizes from the leisure activities. Personality traits and attitudes affect the participation and choice of an individual in leisure. Interpersonal constraints Interpersonal constraints are the leisure constraints that happen after one interacts with family members and peers, which results to them thinking of some leisure activities as either relevant or irrelevant. The interactions can make one consider some types of leisure activities as uninteresting and inappropriate. A person’s recreational choice and leisure attitude are also affected by the sexual orientation of the person. For instance, people who are lesbian or gay may show differences in their leisure preferences. Thus, they are highly likely to have a different context in which they experience their sexuality, meet new people, and experience leisure compared to individuals with a heterosexual orientation (Godbey 2008). Another thing is that viewing oneself as transgender or a bi-sexual may also affect how people spend their leisure time and whom they associate with. Leisure attitudes and recreation choices are affected by religious activities, which influence the behavior, time, and choices of a person during recreation. A sense of morality and religious values derived from other sources requires individuals to control their activities during leisure time to avoid go against morality and religious beliefs (Best 2010). Hence, in choosing leisure activities, people tend to think of how their choices will affect their possible relationships and friendships with families and other people. In most cases, people are more likely to associate with people who observe morality when choosing their leisure activities, which limit people from taking extreme recreational choices. Leisure choices and activities are also affected by masculine/feminine traits and gender roles. Some people believe that the human brain has physiological differences that make it define chemistry for women and men. As such, men and women, when conditioned by societal values and cultural morals that affect their behavior and thought tend to choose to take part in different leisure activities. If it happens that the two participate in the same leisure activities, they often seek experiences with different outcomes. Structural constraints The structural constraints are the barriers to leisure that affect a person once the person has plans, desires, and preferences to participate. Some of the structural constraints include limited financial resources, lack of transportation, and inability to access community programs. Structural constraints are the major constraints that affect the possibilities of most people to participate in leisure, especially the young people. In some cases, a person may be having the desire to visit somewhere during his or her leisure time, or participate in some activities such as sky-diving and bungee jumping. Unfortunately, some of these leisure activities are very expensive. As a result, despite the person having the will and desire to take part in these leisure activities, lack of resources act as a barrier to the leisure choices. Social psychological underpinnings of leisure in contemporary society Several factors influence the decision of a person to take part in physical activity, with social and environmental factors being the major factors. Though environment has a complex relationship with physical activity, evidence shows that one’s perception of an environment can be a barrier to him or her taking part in some leisure activities. The decision of an individual to take part in leisure activities in the modern society is influenced by self-efficacy and social factors. Interpersonal relationships between people may influence the choices of an individual to take part in leisure activities by establishing social norms and providing social support, which constrains or enables a person to take part in certain leisure activities (Godbey, Crawford, Shen 2010). Some people are more likely to take part in certain leisure activities if they are certain to receive positive reactions from their social networks. It is not clear whether the social norms influenced by beliefs and cultural attitudes may affect a person’s adoption of a leisure activity. The psychological study of leisure has paid more focus on social psychological, which follows the observation that much recreation behavior and leisure involves influence and interpersonal interactions. According to Best (2010, recreation and leisure behavior is carried out in specific social groups, where it follows the prevailing social structures and social norms. The concepts of external and internal focus on the issue of social psychological can be used to explain the social psychological constraints on an individual’s involvement and participation in specific leisure activities. In the modern contemporary society, leisure plays a vital role in forming of interpersonal relationships between people. Leisure also helps one develop a perception of other people by determining whether the leisure choices of these people are in line with the social structures. Best says that the critical positions on one’s leisure choices and practices such as feminism, interactionism, and postmodernism show how the modern society has positioned its leisure preferences and practices, and how the power of relations control the experience and motivation of the modern society of leisure (Best 2010). Other people’s beliefs and attitudes to leisure In leisure behavior and contexts, many people appear to have stereotypes and beliefs about the link between personality and leisure behavior. These people tend to see their leisure behavior as a free choice that is intrinsically motivated. Leisure behavior is also seen as a way of expressing their personality rather than being rewarded or obligated by the behavior they choose. In this perspective, the activities that people take part in during their leisure time are more congruent with their attitudes and personalities compared to the activities they engage in when on their normal work (Godbey, Crawford, Shen 2010). The perception of an individual of other people is influenced by the leisure choices and behavior of the other person. Some studies have found that individuals who take part in some specific leisure choices may be seen as people with distinctive personalities. A good example in this context is a chess player, who is perceived by most people as introverted and analytical. From this analysis, it is correct to conclude that the personality images that people associate with certain leisure activities can influence their perceptions of people that participate in these activities (Godbey, Crawford, Shen 2010). However, it is important to note that some people develop confidence in their impressions, especially when they see the personalities of an individual during leisure time compared to his or her personality during work time. The society also has opinions about gender when it comes to leisure choices. For instance, men are not expected to take part in some leisure activities such as sewing. Some people believe that such activities should be left to women while men should take part in more challenging activities such as bungee jumping or rafting. Even though some people allow men to take alcohol as part of their leisure, women tend to be judged if they do the same, especially if they spend most of their time in alcohol. Conclusion In conclusion, the choices that one makes on his or her leisure activities are affected by several conditions. In this paper, we have explored the major conditions affecting recreation choice and leisure attitudes and the social psychological factors that underpin leisure in contemporary society. For instance, several issues such as the use of drugs and alcohol, social class and race, personality and attitude, religion, sexual orientation, and gender dynamics and roles may affect the choices and attitudes of a person concerning leisure. The decision of an individual to take part in certain leisure activities is influenced by social psychological factors, where the factors may either constrain or allow a person to take part in the activities. The choice of a person to participate in leisure and recreational activities is also affected by the social structures and norms. These social structures have resulted in people having certain stereotypes and beliefs about people participating in certain activities. As such, the activities that one participates in during his or her leisure time are congruent with the personality and attitude of the individual. References List Best, S. (2010). Leisure studies: Themes and perspectives. London: SAGE. Godbey, G.(2008). Leisure in your life: New perspectives. State College, PA: Venture. Godbey, G., Crawford, D., Shen S.X., (2010). Assessing Hierarchal Leisure Constraints Theory After Two Decades, Journal of Leisure Research, 2010, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 111-134 Rojek, C. (2010). The labour of leisure: The culture of free time. London: SAGE. Read More