A correlational study of leisure participation, leisure attitudes, and leisure satisfaction among leisure educators, leisure practitioners, and a general population group

The purpose of this study was to determine if the years of academic study and avaiable recreation amenities associated with the vocation of parks and recreation and/or education result in significant individual scores of leisure participation, leisure attitudes, and leisure satisfaction. Survey data were collected from leisure educators, leisure practitioners, and a random sample of alumni from a large southern land-grant university. Survey instruments were systematically distributed to the aforementioned groups within the National Recreation and Park Association's Southern Region. The sample population was surveyed during the summer of 1984.

Objectives of this study were to: (1) analyze patterns of leisure participation among leisure educators and practitioners, (2) analyze leisure attitudes of leisure educators and practitioners, and (3) analyze perceived leisure satisfaction of leisure educators and practitioners. The standardized measuring devices used to accomplish these objectives were The Leisure Activities Blank (LAB), The Leisure Attitude Scale (LAS), and The Leisure Satisfacton Scale (LSS). Each relied upon a Likert-type scaling.

One-way analyses of variance were utilized to test differences between the dependent (LAB, LAS, & LSS) and independent (leisure educators, leisure practitioners, and a general population group) variables. Tukey's (HSD) tests indicated true differences when analyses of variance findings were significant. Significance for each statistical procedure was set at the .05 level of confidence. In addition, Pearson product-moment correlations were used to test for association among dependent, independent, and selected demographic variables.

The results of this study demonstrated that leisure practitioners participate in leisure activity more frequently than the general population group. Leisure educators participate no more frequently than the general population group. No difference in leisure attitude was discernable among the three independent variables. Both leisure educators and practitioners exhibited higher scores of leisure satisfaction than the general population group. However, the general population group was the only independent variable to show a significant relationship between leisure satisfaction and recreation participation. Leisure educators and the general population group had a significant association between leisure attitude and participation whereas the practitioners did not. Significant relationships between leisure attitude and leisure satisfaction were found for all three independent variables.

Among the demographic variables, age correlated negatively for both leisure satisfaction and leisure participation within the general population group. Female leisure practitioners indicated higher levels of leisure satisfaction than male counterparts. Level of education related negatively with leisure participation for leisure educators.