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Psychological Benefit Theories
Buffer and Coping Theory
Psychological Benefit Theories
Activity Substitution Theory of Aging
As we get older, keeping active will help people adjust successfully to aging
This can be done by substituting for activities that one cannot or is unable to do
This “active” lifestyle adds to well being (psychologically and physically)
Ullyssean adult
Psychological Benefit Theories
So what does it all mean?
Research suggests that there are some benefits from leisure and sport participation (no
kidding!)
The theories tend to overlap
CHAPTER 11
The Benefits of Leisure in Other Domains of Life
Leisure as a Life Force
Can the activities that people do for leisure help them enjoy their lives and deal with the
challenges that they face in other areas of life?
What do you think?
Leisure vs. Non-Leisure
Leisure is treated as the Dependent Variable
Because it is the area of life that is least constrained and more susceptible to other
demands of life. (School, Work, Relationships, etc.)
The Good, The Bad, and…..
Positive Effects of Leisure on Work and Family:
Involvement in leisure can be a form of resistance against role constraints, thus leading
to other changes in life. (think gender stereotypes)
….The Ugly.
Negative Effects:
Leisure involvement can constrain men and women’s behavior in a variety of domains
if they reinforce traditional views of masculine and femininity.
Leisure and Life Satisfaction
Life satisfaction is a popular measure of the quality of life.
Life satisfaction scales measure enduring and stable beliefs and cognitions.
Also looks at Global vs. Local Satisfaction and everything in between.
Small but significant relationships have been found between frequent leisure
participation and life satisfaction
What do you think?
What Supports That?
Successful Aging & Life Satisfaction
Leisure activity levels may be better predictors of life satisfaction than health and
income.
Measures
of leisure satisfaction are better predictors of life satisfaction than actual
participation.
The higher the leisure satisfaction = higher life satisfaction.
This link has been found to vary based on age, gender, ethnicity, occupation, and social
status.
The Case of Job Satisfaction
Assumption that the job indicates activity selection, participation, and contacts.
\
Spillover and Compensation
Suggest that the nature of peoples’ work directly influences their choice of leisure
activities.
Spillover: Workers are thought to participate in leisure activities that have
characteristics similar to their job related activities and tasks.
Spillover & Compensation Continued…
Compensation: Deprivations experienced at work are made up for during leisure people will satisfy needs that they cannot satisfy at work.
There has been more support for spillover than compensation. Which do you agree
with?
Leisure Promoting Job Satisfaction
The early classical theories of recreation and relaxation suggested that leisure is an
important element in determining work satisfaction.
Because of this many companies started to promote recreational programs for
employees.
“Leisure Buffing and Coping” Hypothesis
“When work settling rules and expectations impede the satisfaction of important needs,
leisure can provide opportunities for people to more readily meet those needs and affirm
who they are.” (Kelly and Shamir)
A.K.A: to compensate for psychological needs not met by work, achieve better life
balance, and feel better about their work.
Vacations. Do they promote job satisfaction or not?
When workers find their vacations as highly satisfying then the majority find greater
job satisfaction when they return.
On the other hand job satisfaction decreased when workers had a less than satisfying
vacations.
A Further Look at Vacations
Job Loss
Through Retirement and Unemployment
Leisure participation often changes as a result of these life events
The right type of leisure may help people maintain their well being and cope or grow
with these transitions.
Job Loss
Problems that arise
Loss of income
Social isolation (friends and coworkers)
Psychological losses (not contributing to society)
Research
suggest that the retirement transition is less traumatic and more satisfying
among people with higher perceived levels of health and economic status; who have
harmonious marriages and social support from their spouses and families.
Job Loss
Warr(1983) Identified nine potentially negative features of unemployment
Financial anxiety
Less variety in life due to reduced income and more time spent at home
Fewer goals or aims in life
Reduced opportunity for making important decisions
Reduced opportunities to exercise skills or expertise
Increase in psychologically threatening activities such as unsuccessful job searches
Insecurity about the future
Fewer social contacts
Reduced social status
Job Loss
Kilpatrick and Trew(1985) identified four groups on how unemployeed people spent
their “free” time
Passive group – Spent most of their time watching TV or doing nothing.
Domestic group – Spent most of their time at home, but unlike the first, assisted with
household tasks.
Social group – Spent much of their time with people outside their immediate family
Active group – not only spent more time on work-related activities, but also engaged
more frequently in active leisure pursuits outside the home.
Family, Friends, and Signigicant Others.
“The central social space for the development and expression of primary relationships”
– Kelly 1993
Some types of leisure are generally assumed to have positive outcomes for families.
However, family leisure may lead to conflict and some family members may feel
obligated to participate.
Family, Friends, and Significant Others
The benefits for family leisre can be divided into three major types
Family stability
Family interaction
Family satisfaction
(Orthner
and Mancini 1991)
Family, Friends, and Significant Others
Family Stability
“The Family that plays together stays together”
It implies a continuity of interpersonal relationships in the family.
Family Interaction
Refers to communication, conflict, and the distribution of household tasks and roles
among family members.
Although
it is mostly seen to enhance these features, family leisure can create conflict
and destroy communication
Family, Friends, and Significant Others
Family Satisfaction
A consistent finding is that husbands and wives who share leisre time together in joint
activities tend to be much more satisfied with their marriages than those who do not.
There tends to be a negative impact on marital satisfaction of frequent independent,
individual activities by family members.
Leisure Constraints
•What is a constraint?
•Is a constraint different than a barrier?
–Barrier
•People have an interest in participating, but something is blocking them from doing so
–Constraint
•Act as limiters on the interest in participating or as physical limiters in participating
•Participants vs. non-participants
Types of Constraints
•Intrapersonal constraints
–Psychological conditions that arise internal to the individual such as personality factors,
attitudes, or temporary psychological states
•Interpersonal constraints
–Conditions that arise out of interaction with others such as family members, friends,
coworkers, and neighbors
•Structural constraints
–Constraints that arise from external conditions in the environment
Model of Leisure Constraints
Hierarchical constraints model
Leisure Constraints
•Antecedent
–Constraints that determine interest in participating in the activity
•Intervening
–Constraints that prevent people from following up their interest with participation in the
activity
Leisure attitude
•Attitude
–Set of emotion which determines action; learned behavior; predisposition
–Can be measured
•Multi-item questionnaires called attitude scales
–Likert Scale
–Leisure Attitude scale (24 items)
–Leisure Ethic scale (10 items)
•Level of generality and specificity
–Attitudes affect behavior only when attitude measures closely match the behavior
Theory of Planned Behavior
• Attitudes influence behavior through a process of deliberate decision making.
•Attitudes toward specific behavior
•Subjective norms
•Perceived behavior control
Theory of Planned Behavior
Overcoming Leisure Constraints
•Constraint negotiation
–Strategies people use to avoid or reduce the impact of the constraints and barriers to
leisure participation and enjoyment
•Recreation substitutability
–Theory that says people stay active and continue to meet their leisure needs by choosing
new leisure activity or setting when a preferred leisure behavior is no longer possible
Constraint Negotiation
•Cognitive strategies
–Cognitive dissonance reduction, where unchosen or constraint activity alternatives are
devalued and no longer seen as interesting
•Behavioral strategies
–Modifying aspects of leisure and changing other aspects of lifestyles
•Time management
Recreation Substitutability
•Theory says that people will choose as substitutes those activities that provide similar
psychological experiences, satisfactions, and benefits as the original activity
•The term recreation substitutability refers to the interchangeability of recreation
experiences such that acceptably equivalent outcomes can be achieved by varying one or
more of the following: time of experience, means of gaining access, setting, and avtivity.
•Psychological reactance (Iso-Ahola)
–The greater a person’s feeling of choice or freedom in selecting a new activity, the
greater his or her willingness to substitute.
Leisure Affordance
•Affordance
–Personal benefits gained through setting and activity opportunities
Changing Psychological Dispositions Conducive to Leisure
•Leisure counseling
•Education programs
•Persuasive communication
•Elaboration-Likelihood Model
–Based on assumption that individuals do not always process communication the same
way
Cont.
•Central route to persuasion
–Think carefully about contents of a message and are influenced by the strength and
quality of arguments
•Peripheral route to persuasion
–Do not think carefully about contents of a message but focus on cues, such as others
opinions, athletic ability…..
Chapter Eleven
The Benefits of Leisure in Other Domains of Life
Leisure as a Life Force
“rest of life”
Good reason to believe people’s leisure can contribute to their satisfaction with the “rest
of life”
Assumes people with higher levels of psychological well-being may have more
personal resources & enjoy demands and challenges they experience in other areas of
daily life
Leisure as a Life Force Cont.
Leisure can provide opportunities that foster various forms of psychological well-being
Leisure may act as a buffer providing the psychological resources needed to cope with
life stress
Leisure is more likely to be influenced in by experiences by areas of life than it is to
influence what goes on in other domains
Demands & obligations in the work and family domains influencing behavior in leisure
Leisure as a Life Force Cont.
Ways leisure participation positively- negatively influences experiences of work and
family
Leisure involvement can be a form of resistance against role constraints that may lead
to changes in other areas of life
 a benefit
Participation by women in certain types of physical recreation and highly competitive
sports
Leisure as resistance is based on idea that leisure is a domain of life where people are
relatively free to step out of constraining social roles and define & express who they are
Leisure as a Life Force Cont.
Effects of leisure on other areas of life can also be negative
Leisure involvements can constrain women and men’s behavior in a variety of life
domains if they reinforce traditional views of “femininity” and “masculinity”
The Whole of Life:
Leisure and Life Satisfaction
Life Satisfaction
Satisfaction with the whole of life
Popular measure of quality of life
Satisfaction
•Seen to have a past “time orientation”
•Measure enduring & stable beliefs or cognitions
Leisure and Life Satisfaction Cont.
Assumption that the more leisure activity in which people are involved and/or higher
their satisfaction - the higher their satisfaction with their life as a whole
Some research has suggested that leisure activity levels are better predictors of life
satisfaction then health and income
Leisure and Life Satisfaction Cont.
Measure of leisure satisfaction found to be better predictor of life satisfaction than
leisure participation measures
The higher the leisure satisfaction, the higher life satisfaction
Job satisfaction and leisure satisfaction contributed independently to the quality of life,
leisure satisfaction was the best predictor
Leisure satisfaction was more important for individuals with lifestyles not
dominated by work
(London, Crandall, and Seals)
Leisure and Life Satisfaction Cont.
Regardless of how satisfied people experience their leisure or how frequent they
participate, their leisure may not strongly influence life satisfaction if they are at a stage
in their lives where leisure is over showered in importance by other concerns
Leisure and Life Satisfaction Cont.
What goes on in the leisure domain can influence how people feel about their lives in
whole
Life satisfaction is less dependent on what people do during their leisure and is
influenced more by how people feel about what they do
Life Course Transitions:
Problems with loss of job (retirement or unemployment).
Loss of income,
Social isolation, or psychological losses.
Leisure
is one of these factors of the well-being when people are dealing with job loss.
Retirement
Being retired is a
traumatic event, and particularly men do not adjust well.
The onset
represents a major transition point that has the potential to alter lifestyles.
Life Course Transitions:
Retirement
Less traumatic and
more satisfying among people with higher perceived levels of health and economic
status.
People who
stay with similar types of leisure have an easier time adjusting to retirement.
People
with positive attitudes toward leisure, adjust better and are more satisfied with their new
lifestyle.
Serious leisure can be more important to the quality of older retired adults’ lives
by providing work-like activites.
Life Course Transitions:
Retirement
Examples of serious
leisure:
offering a link with former work associates,
current friends and relatives, expanding one’s social circle, fostering responsibility, and
creating the opportunity to feel needed by other people.
Unemployment
Much more traumatic
and even greater negative impact on psychological well-being than retirement.
Life Course Transitions:
Unemployment
Nine negative features
of unemployment:
1)Financial Anxiety
2)Less variety in life due to reduced income and more time spet at home
3)Fewer goals or aims of life
4)Reduced opportunity for making important decisions
5)Reduced opportunities to exercise skills or expertise
6)Increase in psychologically threatening activities such as unsuccessful job
searches
7)Insecurity about the future
8)Fewer social contacts
9)Reduced social status
Life Course Transitions:
Unemployment
20% of unemployed
men reported a decline in health.
8% of unemployed men reported an
improvement in health.
Leisure participation often decreases with unemployment.
The way unemployed people use their free time and
leisure can reduce the negative effects to some extent.
Young unemployed adults who were
engaged in more work-like and active leisure pursuits also had higher levels of
psychological well-being.
Mental Health of Unemployed Men with Different Participation Patterns
The Domain of Close Interpersonal Relationships:
Leisure has been described as “the central social space for the development and
expression of primary relationships”.
Family,
Friends, and significant others
many of these important interpersonal relationships.
A focal point for
Parents see family
leisure more important than their own leisure.
A negative
point of family leisure is that some family members feel obligated to join.
The Domain of Close Interpersonal Relationships:
Family
families
Family Stability
Family Interaction
Family Satisfaction
Benefits for divorced
Family Stability:
Reflected in the common phrase used to promote family interaction, and family
satisfaction.
“The family that plays together stays together.”
The Domain of Close Interpersonal Relationships:
Family, Friends, and significant others
Family Interaction:
Refers to communication, conflict, and the distribution of household tasks and roles
among family members.
Studies have shown that family leisure can enhance communication, reduce conflict, and
lead to greater equity in the distribution of house hold tasks and roles.
Other studies have shown that family leisure can cause conflict between family members.
The Domain of Close Interpersonal Relationships:
Family, Friends, and significant others
Family Interaction
The more frequent family members are together the more they will communicate which
means the more communication will cause more arguments.
Family Satisfaction
Couples who spend more time in leisure together tend to be more satisfied with their
marriage than those who do not.
A negative of martial satisfaction is that if there is to many “girls or boys nights out” then
martial satisfaction tends to be lower.
The Domain of Close Interpersonal Relationships:
Family, Friends and significant others
Parallel leisure activities, which involves sharing time without substantial amount
of interaction. (watching television, going to the movies)
Parallel activities are negatively associated with martial satisfaction for both
husbands and wives.
Friendships
and Intimate Relationships
Interactions with friends was found to be more positive than interactions with a
spouse.
The Domain of Close Interpersonal Relationships:
Friendships and Intimate Relationships
The most positive and exciting interactions happen when a person is with their
friends and spouse.
Most interaction with family members, particularly spouses was passive leisure. (
housework, watching television)
Affective Experience with Different Companions
Negotiating Leisure Constraint and Creating Leisure Affordance
Chapter 12
Barriers and Constraints
The History of Constraints
Interest in constraints began in the 1960’s
Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC)
Barriers and constraints
The (ORRRC) was first concerned with factors that influenced the demand for
recreation activities and almost exclusively focused on external barriers.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s research became more sophisticated and social psychological
factors were viewed as important also.
Figure 12.1 Pg 331
Barriers and Constraints
Barriers presuppose that people have an interest in participating, but are blocked from
doing so.
Constraints is a more inclusive term and refers to psychological factors within the
individual as well as factors in the external social and physical environment
Models and Types of Leisure Constraints
There are three major types of constraints
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Structural
Models and Types of Leisure Constraints
Hierarchical constraints model
Suggests one’s experience of leisure constraints is a linear and sequential process
Only applies in the most general sense, constraints often act simultaneously and
influence each other
Figure 12.2 Pg 334
Models and Types of Leisure Constraints
The constraint process can be very complex, with many factors influencing each other.
People often use others with whom they participate to judge how well they are doing
Intervening constraints-prevent people from following up their interests with
participation
Antecedent constraints-determine interest in participating
Psychological Dispositions as Intrapersonal Leisure Constraints
Attitudes have a big influence on leisure
Measuring attitudes:
Ask people about their experience
Multi-item questionnaires or Likert scale
The Leisure Ethic Scale and the Leisure Attitude Scale are both commonly used
Psychological Dispositions as Intrapersonal Leisure Constraints
Attitudes affect behavior only when attitude measures closely match the behavior in
question
One key factor is the level of generality and specificity of the attitude and behavior of
interest
Theory of Planned Behavior
This theory states that attitudes influence behavior through a process of deliberate
decision making and that their impact is limited in four respects:
Behavior is influenced less by general attitudes than by attitudes toward a specific
behavior
Behavior is also influenced by subjective norms
Attitudes give rise to behavior only when an individual perceives the behavior to be
within their control
People often do not or cannot follow through on their intentions
Figure 12.4 Pg 339
Theory of Planned Behavior
Attitudes toward a person object or behavior do not always influence people’s actions
because other factors must be taken into account.
However, when attitudes are strong and specific to a particular behavior, they can
constrain or motivate leisure behavior
How are leisure attitudes changed so that they are not intrapersonal constraints to leisure
participation?
Overcoming Leisure Constraints
Two “leisure-related” Mechanisms
Constraint negotiation
- refers to the strategies people use to avoid or reduce the impact of the constraints
and barriers to leisure participation and enjoyment that were discussed earlier.
Recreation substitutability
- It deals with how people stay active and continue to meet their leisure needs by
choosing a new leisure activity or setting when a preferred leisure behavior is no longer
possible.
Negotiating Constraint
Cognitive Strategies
Includes such processes as cognitive dissonance reduction, where unchosen or
constrained activity alternatives are devalued and no longer seen as interesting.
Ex: Not having enough money to see a concert might lead to less interest in the music or
artist.
Negotiating Constraint
Behavioral Strategies
Includes
modifying aspects of leisure (giving up happy hour to go ice skating w/niece)
and changing other aspects of lifestyle. (spending less time at work)
Time Management
Is a major behavioral negotiation strategy that is apparently common throughout
adulthood.
Recreation Substitutability
Theory has primarily been of interest to researchers concerned with understanding what
happens to outdoor recreation users when they are displaced from an activity that they are
committed to and enjoy because of changes in social, physical environment, or
managerial conditions.
Ex: what would you do if the friend you annually took a canoe trip with moved and
could no longer participate?
Theory suggest that they will choose as substitutes those activities that provide similar
experiences and satisfactions.
Recreation Substitutability cont…
The theory has also been applied to leisure behavior in general whenever an “originally
intended activity is no longer possible and therefore must be replaced by another
behavior if leisure involvement is to be initiated or continued.”
Iso-Ahola has proposed that psychological reactance is a key process underlying
people’s willingness to substitute.
Recreation Substitutability cont…
Other forms of substitution include:
Temporal - participating in original activity at a different time.
Resource – finding a new setting to participate in the original activity.
Strategic – finding a different way to participate in the original activity in the same
setting at the same time.
Leisure affordance
J.J. Gibson suggests that an environmental model of behavior that identifies
characteristics in the environment that, once perceived, afford certain behaviors.
Ex: fishing rod affords catching fish
Setting and Activity Management
Optimal challenge is a way of enhancing leisure experiences through setting and activity
management.
Promoting optimal experience, or “flow” by offering challenges that are reasonably
well-matched with participant skills was found to be an important characteristic of
rewarding and beneficial leisure.
Ex: if a challenge is too low for a person, boredom is the result, if they are too great,
anxiety can be expected.
Setting and Activity Management
Appropriate feedback
Setting can afford involvement and enjoyment if it allows feedback about learning and
mastery, whether that feedback is offered by instructors, coparticipants, or comes from
interaction with objects, playthings, or other materials.
Ex: parents can be disruptive to leisure experience when they are so invested in their
children’s activities that they praise or correct them to the point that they forget why they
are there.
Setting and Activity Management
Promoting inclusiveness
Involves making it clear that activities are open to everyone regardless of race, gender,
age, social status, sexual preference or ability level.
Technology can be either constraining or affording. The development of assistive
devices for people with disabilities has had an extremely positive impact on participation.

Elaboration-Likelihood Model (ELM)
Model is based on the assumption that individuals do not always process
communications the same way.
The term “elaboration-likelihood” refers to the probability that people will either think
about and analyze the information contained in a communication or attend instead to
peripheral cues accompanying the message’s delivery.
Ex: use of an attractive or celebrity spokesperson to deliver the message.
Elaboration-Likelihood Model (ELM)
Central route to persuasion – influenced by the strength and quality of the arguments.
Peripheral route to persuasion – when people do not think carefully about the contents
of a message but focus instead on other cues.
Ex: the handsome face or athletic prowess of the spokesperson.