Adolescent and Adult Leisure Patterns: A Reassessment

Introduction Leisure patterns, like other aspects of human behavior, are believed to exhibit both change and continuity across the life span (Iso-Ahola, 1980; Kelly, 1974, 1977). As individuals age, their changing physical, psychological, and social circumstances impact on the ways they use their free time. However, theories of social development and folk wisdom alike suggest that there is also continuity in behavior and that youthful experiences will continue to affect adult patterns across time despite the ever present changes in life circumstances. In this paper, we examine the linkages between adolescent leisure participation and involvement in these activities 45 years later. Literature Review Our understanding of aging has been facilitated by life span and life course models (Mannell & Kleiber, 1997). Life span models are generally "psychological" in nature and tend to emphasize those biological and psychological issues or challenges faced by individuals at different stages of life (Erickson,1963; Havighurst, 1972). Life course models, in contrast, are more "sociological" in scope and examine how individuals behave in light of agerelated expectations and norms (Neugarten, 1977). Life course models also tend to examine how individuals act as a result of life events or unique turning points that occur during their lives (Brim, 1980). Although life span and life course models are grounded in very different disciplines, proponents of each seek to understand leisure in light of the various changes people incur as they age. Changes during later life include, but are not limited to, diminished physical abilities, launching children, retirement, the birth of a grandchild, widowhood, divorce, changes in finances, and dependency. These changes, according to Atchley (1988, 1989), lead people to make adaptations in their internal and external worlds. One adaptation strategy is continuity. A central tenet of continuity theory "is that, in making adaptive choices, middle-aged and older adults attempt to preserve and maintain existing internal and external structures and they prefer to accomplish this objective by . . . applying familiar strategies in familiar arenas of life" (Atchley, 1989, p. 183). Internal continuity refers to the persistence of mental structures about who we are, as reflected in our ideas, temperaments, perceived skills, preferences, and tastes; external continuity, on the other hand, is defined in terms of persistence of activities, environments, roles and relationships (Atchley, 1989; Henderson, Bialeschki, Shaw, & Freysinger, 1996). To date, research suggests that there is some continuity in leisure behavior over time (Mannell & Kleiber, 1997). What is less well-known is the extent to which leisure behaviors people learn during youth persist into adulthood. Several studies have concluded that youthful activities are reflected in adult leisure choices (Burch, 1969; Buse & Enosh, 1977; Christensen & Yoesting, 1973, 1976; Greendorfer, 1983; Laakso, 1980; Kelly, 1974,1977; Sofranko & Nolan, 1972; Spreitzer & Snyder, 1976; Yoesting & Burkhead, 1973). However, most of these studies have dealt with only a few types of leisure activities and have used adults' recall to determine the nature of their childhood activities If people are most likely to recall activities that continue to be salient to them, any analysis using these data would be likely to overestimate the linkages between youth and adult patterns. Longitudinal data on the same persons across time avoids the possibly biased nature of recall information, but only a handful of relevant panel studies have been carried out and most of these have examined leisure patterns only during the adult years (LaPage & Ragan, 1974; Crawford, Godbey, & Crouter, 1986; Schmitz-Scherzer & Thomas, 1983; Freysinger & Ray, 1994; Smale & Dupuis, 1995). Lindsay (1984) did report a relationship between participation in school activities and adult social participation seven years later, using panel data, but no other types of leisure activities were included in that analysis. …