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Doctoral
Thesis: Children’s
Structured Leisure Activities: Three Generations of Change
Supervisors: Dr
Penny Warner-Smith, Dr Kevin Lyons
University: School
of Social Sciences, University of Newcastle
Purpose of the study:
Analyses of ALSWH data have shown that participation
in leisure activities is an important component of our
wellbeing. However, it is well understood that leisure
time may be curtailed due to the need to cope with family
and work responsibilities. This project is nested within
a broader study which is examining work-life tensions
in dual-earner families. The aim of this nested project
is to explore how children’s structured leisure
activities have changed over the past 50 years. The
research will investigate the underlying social and
cultural influences which have shaped participation
in structured leisure activities for children and their
parents.
Phase
One
The first phase of the study involved 10 focus groups
which were conducted in both urban and rural regions
of NSW and QLD. Themes identified in the focus groups
were used to inform phase two of the study which involved
semi structured telephone interviews.
Phase
Two
Participants from both the Younger cohort (N=88) and
the Mid-age cohort (N=82) from the ALSWH were recruited
to participate in phase two of the study. Participants
from the Younger cohort and their partners were interviewed
in 2004, while participants from the Mid-age cohort
were interviewed in 2005. All interviews have been transcribed
and coded thematically utilising the qualitative software
package Nvivo.
Preliminary
findings suggest that contemporary children not only
have the opportunity to participate in a greater range
of activities, but are doing so at a much younger age
than their parents or grandparents. Modern-day children
are also highly influenced by their parents and their
peers and structured leisure activities are seen to
be an arena where children are socialised to be “successful”.
Children participating in structured leisure activities
during the 1950s and 1960s were more likely to be involved
of their own volition. Leisure for children during this
time seemed to be
characterised by a distinct lack of parental involvement,
compared to contemporary children whose parents appear
to be much more involved. These preliminary themes and
others, including but not limited to the cultural context
of each time period, social movements, gender, parental
involvement, family car ownership, location (i.e. urban,
regional, rural) will be explored when examining the
underlying social and cultural influences that have
changed the context and meaning of children’s
structured leisure activities over the past 50 years.
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