Adolescent girl's leisure: A conceptual framework highlighting factors that can affect girl's recreational choices
Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Public Management
School
School of Marketing, Tourism and Leisure
RAS ID
217
Abstract
In Australia adolescent girls are less fit than boys, and this is a matter of some concern. This has also been found in American and Canadian studies. Although many adolescent girls engage in physically active recreation activities in public places, others choose more passive recreation in private spaces, which has implications for their health. This article shows how a conceptual framework can be useful to provide a pictorial representation of the relationships between factors that can affect girls’ leisure choices and their potential outcomes. For example, prior to choosing to participate in a recreational activity, girls often weigh up the potential for ridicule of their physical appearance or athletic competence against the potential enjoyment of the activity. This paper contains a vignette to illustrate how the framework can work, followed by potential strategies to consolidate or challenge the framework, and how it could be used to develop strategies for change. This snapshot of girls’ decision-making processes should be of use to recreation programmers, facility providers and education authorities. It can help to focus efforts to improve factors that increase girls’ levels of participation in healthy physical activity and decrease those factors that inhibit participation.
DOI
10.1080/11745398.2002.10600896
Comments
James, K., & Embrey, L. (2002). Adolescent girls’ leisure: a conceptual framework highlighting factors that can affect girls’ recreational choices. Annals of leisure research, 5(1), 14-26. Available here