Every September, tens of thousands of students enter the world of higher education for the first time, and face numerous new challenges without their traditional support systems. The literature indicates that leisure involvement can work as an effective coping strategy, but little is known about how first-year students make decisions about their leisure. This study examined the factors affecting students’ involvement in two leisure coping strategies (planned breaks and avoidance) and two leisure contexts (structured and unstructured). Nine one-on-one interviews with first year students were conducted. Insights consistent with the reviewed literature include students’ social leisure choices, their personal background and behavioural factors, and the transitional issues they faced. A new factor to add to the existing literature is the connection between students’ leisure actions and their sense of self. Researchers and leisure service providers on university campuses should explore these insights further, to help with students’ transitions into university.

Cancer rates are on the rise and there is also an increase in the number of cancer survivors. This results in an increase of caregivers for those survivors. Many caregivers experience negative impacts of caregiving, including decreased mental health. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how the fulfillment of leisure needs impacts caregivers’ mental health. Using data from The Cancer Support Person’s Unmet Needs Survey (Campbell et al., 2009), secondary data analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between unmet leisure needs and mental health, as well as examining the mediation of social and physical aspects of leisure. The sample consisted of 718 support persons (self-selected by the survivors, who were asked to give their caregivers the survey) from the Cancer Registry run by CancerCare Manitoba. Results revealed that fulfilling leisure needs decreased level of caregiver depression, anxiety, and stress. Fulfilling social needs showed a decrease in caregiver depression, and having higher levels of physical functioning had a positive impact on caregiver’s level of depression, anxiety, and stress. This study provided practical applications for practitioners and caregivers on how to improve caregiver mental health through the fulfillment of leisure needs.

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A feminist point of view is used in this study of gay men living in a small, collegiate community who use leisure travel as a negotiation strategy to achieve freedom of expression. Feminism is concerned with equality, empowerment, social change, the elimination of invisibility and the distortion of situated experiences. Feminist research is no more defined by the sex of the researcher than by the sex of the researched. Several in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants who revealed the complex nature of how many gay men pursue leisure experiences that are affirming to their gay self-identities in "Soledad." While gay meeting places and people exist in this small community, they remain mostly covert and invisible. Leisure travel to larger cities was a major negotiation strategy used to escape the stifling, hetero-normative community in which they lived. Escaping perceived hostilities was essential for gay men to feel comfortable exploring their homosexuality in a positive, affirming manner. Furthermore, the benefits of leisure travel bled into the daily lives of gay men after leisure travel was performed. For instance, leisure travel helped gay men make other gay friends who helped them cope with their homosexuality, and, in the process, they helped them "learn" how to be gay. The skills and experiences these gay men acquired while pursuing leisure in other places helped them transform their daily lives and home community into a more bearable place to live, thereby making home an easier place to negotiate. Gay men were able to discover a whole new set of possibilities of how to express themselves and discovered a new "gaze" by which to view the world. This research adds to the literature on travel and tourism, while expanding the information we have concerning the gay subculture that is becoming more socially and politically efficacious and economically powerful. Likewise, some of the gaps in the literature concerning leisure constraints and negotiation are also filled by this research.

The current research aims to examine the relationship among emotional labor, leisure attitude, leisure motivation, and self-efficacy, and designates leisure motivation as mediator and self-efficacy as moderator. The research chose convenience sampling and sent out 400 questionnaires. 387 effective questionnaires were received and used STATA 8.0 to analyze descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, one way ANOVA, correlations and multiple regressions. The findings of the study as followed: 1. The employees of leisure service industry prefer to use the strategy of deep acting in the emotional labor. 2. Among all kinds of activities, ¡§entertaining activities¡¨ were found to be employees¡¦ favorite choices of their leisure activities. There are contradiction between leisure cognitions and leisure attitudes in employees¡¦ leisure attitude. The main motivation Stimulus avoidance is the main motivations of participating leisure activity. 3. There is a relationship between the emotional labor, leisure attitude, and leisure motivation. 4. There is a prediction between the emotional labor, leisure attitude, and leisure motivation. 5. Deep acting was significantly, positively related to beneficial result. Employees with higher organizational commitment and job involvement probably find the balance between work and leisure life.

Recreational shopping has long been of interest to business academics and practitioners, but research on it has been underdeveloped in the leisure field. Although the leisure literature and business literature represent distinct perspectives, there appears to be many significant parallels between recreational shopping and leisure. The purpose of this study was to examine the intrinsic meanings of shopping; to explore the experiential aspects of the recreational shopping experience (including the influences of the retail environment on individuals who regularly engage in recreational shopping). This study took place in Toronto, Ontario. The sample included five female self-proclaimed recreational shoppers. The researcher accompanied each participant on a shopping excursion which took place at a shopping mall selected by the participant. Data were collected through three qualitative methods. First, participant observation involved the researcher walking alongside the participant as she shopped. Following the shopping session, the researcher conducted an in-depth face-to-face interview with each participant; the interview was guided by a set of open-ended questions. In addition, this study utilized photo-elicitation in which the participants were asked to photograph ‘anything’ that made an impression during their visit to the mall. The photographs offered tangible illustrations of shopping experiences and were used as a catalyst for discussion during the interviews. The data was analyzed using Grounded Theory coding which lead to the identification of two main themes and six respective subthemes. The emergent themes are all connected to the key idea that shoppers are motivated by their expectations and desires when they partake in the recreational shopping activity. Shopping offers numerous opportunities that provide immediate hedonic pleasure as well as intrinsic rewards. Such opportunities often include, the ‘before and after’ phases of experiences of acquisition and unexpected discoveries, the positive interactions which occur both inside and outside a retail environment, and lastly, the individual’s use of shopping as a means of self-expression and a tool to manage their self image. Satisfaction, spontaneity, familiarity, mastery, accomplishment, and feelings of escape were all present in these shopping experiences. The findings also described the role of shopping malls as a leisure space and as facilitators of recreational shopping activities. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that shopping can offer a profound leisure experience for many people and the activity should not only be researched in terms of just ‘recreational shopping’ or ‘utilitarian shopping.’ Rather, the findings indicate several overlaps between the two types of shopping and further research is needed to more fully understand the complexities of the activity.

Leisure time, leisure activities, and leisure spaces largely surround matters of consumption. However, the role consumption plays in the reproduction and performance of community is a necessarily contested topic among leisure scholars. For their part, leisure scholars have tended to regard consumption and places of consumption with a great deal of trepidation, skepticism, and even contempt (e.g., Arai & Pedlar, 2003; Hemingway, 1996; Reid, 1995; Stormann, 2000). Implications for and about community appear to be at the forefront of anxiety about consumption as it relates to leisure. As a result, a focus on “community” has become a practical response to assumptions about pervasive individualism, consumption, and the loss of community, in general. Following calls for the incorporation of community in leisure studies (Arai & Pedlar, 2003; Glover & Stewart, 2006) and drawing on Cook’s (2006a) call to move leisure studies “beyond individualism” (p. 464), this study sought to empirically examine the significance local residents attribute to everyday places of consumption. Furthermore, this study aimed to challenge the idea that leisure time, activities, places, and spaces based on consumption serve only to further alienate individuals from communities, thus weakening the social relevance of leisure, in general (Arai & Pedlar, 2003). The purpose of this research, therefore, was to challenge the essentialist conceptualization of consumption by exploring the relationship between places of consumption and the everyday lived experience of community. To do so, I engaged patrons at the Kitchener Market, a venue that encourages consumptive acts, yet serves as a focal point for everyday engagement in community. The primary research question providing focus for this study was: What roles, if any, do places of consumption, particularly third places, play in the everyday lived experience of community? Results of this research suggest there are new ways for understanding leisure and community as they relate to consumption. Rather than considering consumption places as points of exchange with little or no emotional sentiment attached, this research suggests these places have to potential to develop and create community as well as incorporate consumer values, ideals, ethics, and sentiments. Third places, as everyday places of consumption, should be examined for their potential to create, enact, and build community. Consumption is not separate from society, community and leisure; rather, consumption constitutes a salient aspect of everyday living and should be considered an important component of community.

Despite many sports leagues for participants over the age of 18 being co-gendered, little research has explored how women experience co-gendered sport. Women are typically underrepresented in these leagues so it is important to understand what attracts them to the sport and their experiences of playing. The current study examined how women experience co-gendered soccer in a Region of Waterloo soccer league. Semi-structured conversational interviews with seven women, who participated in co-gendered soccer for more than one season, were conducted. The findings suggest that upon facing unfavourable stereotypes about women's athletic abilities, women who play co-gendered soccer felt the need to prove their skills to male teammates, thus changing the way they played and experienced soccer. Women also both resisted, by their confidence and skill, and reproduced, by their acceptance of male athletic superiority, dominant gender ideologies that frame co-gendered soccer. Therefore, although co-gendered soccer experiences are gendered and teammate interactions can reinforce dominant gender ideologies, the current research found that co-gendered soccer is also a space for women to resist and challenge what it means to be "feminine." Furthermore, this study suggests that there is need for organizational change based on how women experienced gendered rules and organizational structure in co-gendered leagues. Although co-gendered soccer is experienced positively by some women, there is much work to be done by players, captains, and sport organizations to decrease gendered constraints and create more positive sport experiences for all players.

Chinese international students are the largest group among international students in Canada. They play an important role in Canadian universities as well as in leisure research. The current study aims to reveal Chinese international students’ leisure experience, and to explore their leisure constraints and negotiation strategies in their everyday lives. The framework of leisure constraints negotiation (Jackson, 1993) was employed. Eight interviews with Chinese international students from the University of Manitoba were conducted to hear the stories about their leisure experiences. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data. Chinese international students were found to be constrained intrapersonally, interpersonally, structurally, and culturally in their leisure. However, they were trying to be active by applying some negotiation strategies. The results of this study can not only benefit this group but also other international student groups by identifying their leisure preferences and constraints, and help leisure service providers to facilitate leisure activities on campus.

Chinese international students are the largest group among international students in Canada. They play an important role in Canadian universities as well as in leisure research. The current study aims to reveal Chinese international students’ leisure experience, and to explore their leisure constraints and negotiation strategies in their everyday lives. The framework of leisure constraints negotiation (Jackson, 1993) was employed. Eight interviews with Chinese international students from the University of Manitoba were conducted to hear the stories about their leisure experiences. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data. Chinese international students were found to be constrained intrapersonally, interpersonally, structurally, and culturally in their leisure. However, they were trying to be active by applying some negotiation strategies. The results of this study can not only benefit this group but also other international student groups by identifying their leisure preferences and constraints, and help leisure service providers to facilitate leisure activities on campus.