This comparative study assessed the usefulness of the convergence thesis as a tool for understanding developments in leisure, recreation and sport in New Zealand and Malaysia. The study examined the interrelationship between 'global' and 'local' or 'contingent' factors and their impact upon leisure behaviour, leisure policy and leisure structures. 'Local' factors included institutional arrangements (notably political ones) and national cultural practices. A social history of New Zealand and Malaysia with particular reference to leisure, sport and recreation and national cultural practices was provided as a context for discussion of these issues. The study utilised a mixture of archival and library research and semi-structured interview, and was guided by an explicit comparative framework, concentrating on the development of leisure, sport and recreation in the two countries between 1970 and 2002. Interviews with 'key players' in both countries captured valuable data in the form of 'insiders' views' on leisure behaviour, policy and structure. These data were analysed with the relevance of the convergence thesis in mind. This study shows that contemporary leisure behaviour in New Zealand and Malaysia is shaped by the media and is highly commercialised, placing a high value on entertainment, and involves increasingly passive forms of participation. Informal sport and individualised recreational activities are replacing organised team-based sports in popularity. Leisure behaviour trends have led governments in both countries to encourage greater participation in sport and physical activity and to encourage private sector ventures into leisure-related products, services and infra-structures in the form of private-public partnerships. In terms of leisure policy, developments in leisure, recreation and, noticeably, sport, in Malaysia and New Zealand have been shaped by the wider agendas of the governing political parties. This is particularly noticeable at central government level. Individual political leaders in both countries have been influential in setting leisure-related policy. They had the vision to see that sport in particular might serve wider, national interests and that investments in sport could help raise the profiles of their countries in international markets and among trading organisations and the regulatory bodies that oversee trading practices. Malaysian and New Zealand governments seek to make leisure, sport and recreation policy supportive of other priorities. In Malaysia, the government legitimises its control over the policies which affect people's lives by appeals to Islamic principles and the need to put collective needs of nation building ahead of individual concerns for freedom. In terms of institutional, political, arrangements, this impacts at both central and local government levels in Malaysia. New Zealand, following a pluralist, Westminster, tradition of political representation, experiences regular changes in political management at central government level and a system of local government whereby local autonomy is jealously protected. Malaysia has resisted 'the global', by virtue of the nation-building policies of the Barisan Nasional, which has been in power since 1957. New Zealand's 'resistance' stems in part at least from the autonomy which local government enjoys. These experiences demonstrate that resistance to 'global' change can take varied forms at the 'local', contingent, level (Thorns, 1992). Differences in leisure structures reflect, once again, different agendas stemming from different political arrangements. The Malaysian government's approach is multi-Ministry, and micro-managed. In New Zealand, a 'hands off' approach via a quasi-autonomous non-government organisation (‘Quango'), became the favoured means of structuring central government leisure provision in the 1980s and 1990s. This was with a view to encouraging stability and consistency in leisure policy and provision in a pluralistic political system. Overall, and 'cautiously', this study provided support for the convergence thesis as a way to explain development in leisure, recreation and sport in New Zealand and Malaysia over the past 32 years. Although institutional arrangements and national cultural practices have provided some resistance to convergence processes, changing consumer sentiments may weaken such resistance in future.

"The purpose of this study was to determine the percent of boys who had hobbies; what influenced their choice of hobbies; what types of hobbies were selected; what were their recreational, educational, and vocational values; and what were their environmental influences...One hundred and ninety-eight questionnaires were filed out in the schools that were in the high economic districts, one hundred ninety-one in the medium districts, and one hundred ninety-seven in the low districts. This made a total of five hundred and sixty-five questionnaires used in the analysis... Comparisons and analyses of all the groups were made by means of numbers, percentages, and averages. "-- leaves 3,7

This thesis deals with the life of current seniors in the country with regard to their leisure activities. The first part defines key terms, such as aging and old age; senior; active aging; ageism; Leisure, its functions and the factors that affect it. The second section deals with the different types of organized and unorganized leisure activities for seniors. The main part is the qualitative research of the life of seniors in the country. The research was conducted by interviewing fifteen seniors living in rural areas.

The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of family leisure involvement to the family functioning of single-parent families among a large national representative sample. Two samples were gathered. The single-parent sample consisted of 384 families (384 parents and 384 youth). The dual-parent sample consisted of 495 families (495 parents and 495 youth). Data were analyzed from the parent, youth, and family perspective using two instruments. The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale (FACES II) was used to measure family functioning and the Family Leisure Activity Profile (FLAP) was used to measure family leisure involvement. Blocked multiple regression analysis indicated a positive relationship between family leisure variables and family functioning variables among single-parent families. Family cohesion and family adaptability were affected by both core and balance activities, while family adaptability was affected slightly more by core activities than balance activities, from all three perspectives. Results also indicated that family functioning was very similar to dual-parent families while family leisure involvement among single-parent families was less. Implications for practitioners and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Free time is one significant phenomenons of young people's life. The attitude which young people have to free time depends on their subjective meaning of it. The author builds on the theory of Charles Osgood and tries to find the meaning from free time using the semantic differential as a method of research and the result compares with the definition of free time in literature.

This thesis focuses on the research of leisure time of children and youth in the Czech Republic after the year 1989. It deals with this subject from the side of institutional and organizational (support) arrangements, staffing and thematic contents. The first two chapters present basic theoretical introduction into the topic of leisure time, which is crucial for understanding the context of following text of the thesis. The first chapter provides a basic explanation of general terms. It defines the concept of leisure time, introduces the age categories of children and youth and describes the specifics of their leisure time. The second chapter is devoted to the leisure time research itself. At first it provides general information about research ? it is a brief explanation of the types of scientific research and a survey of the methods and techniques of research in sociology. Then it recapitulates the history of research on leisure time in foreign countries and summarizes the research on leisure time of children and youth in the Czech Republic before 1989. The third chapter consists of a list of thirty selected research works. Their individual characteristics tell who realized them and when and what kind of leisure time activity of children and youth they were focused on. The fourth chapter presents a summary of the research of leisure time of children and youth in the Czech Republic after 1989. It attempts to systematize the obtained knowledge about scientific departments, scientists and research topics. This final fourth chapter was created on the base of the overview of the third chapter.

This diploma thesis deals with chemistry and science after school clubs, which are held in schools or in official public organization called "leisure education centres". Chemistry after school clubs, play an important role in motivating pupils to further study chemistry, enabling them to carry out more experiments, acquiring practical skills, and applying theoretical knowledge. Last but not least, chemistry after school clubs help pupils to spend their leisure time meaningfully. This thesis is divided into the theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part describes the importance of leisure time, motivation for education legal basis for leisure education and other topics related to chemical interest groups. The practical part contains the results and analysis of the questionnaire survey, which was realized mainly among the chemistry teachers. The results of the survey show that the chemistry clubs are mostly focused on the realization of the experiments and the dissemination of the curriculum. And the pupils themselves are primarily interested in establishing of clubs. Most after school clubs aren't organized in leisure education centre. For this reason, they can't use state funding for the clubs, which are organized in leisure education centre.

"This study has two-fold purpose: (1) to determine how the senior high school girls of Big Spring, Texas spend their leisure time and the relation, if any, of certain home and community facilities and instruction as factors which govern the amount and type of leisure activities, (2) to determine whether the public schools are preparing the students for the wise use of leisure time. "-- leaf 3.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur samverkan kan se ut mellan klasslärare samt fritidslärare. Vi hade som önskan att belysa de olika lärarkategoriers uppfattning kring samverkan dem emellan. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ metod, datainsamlingen bestod av semistrukturerade intervjuer och utgick från ett bekvämlighetsurval. Studieobjekten var tre klasslärare och fem fritidslärare, från två olika kommuner. Resultatet visade att samtliga lärare uppfattade samverkan på ett liknande sätt. Vikten av tid till gemensam planering, där de kan diskutera och strukturera samarbetets upplägg var något som framkom i studien. Samtliga har en relativt positiv inställning till samverkan med sina kollegor, de upplever även att de tar vara på varandras kunskaper och kompetenser. Samtliga lärare har uppfattningen om att hela skolan är deras arbetslag. Skolans struktur där möten ligger på eftermiddagar när fritidsverksamheten är igång var något som lyftes fram. Fritidslärarna upplever sig ha en resursroll när de befinner sig i klassrummet, detta uppfattas dock inte som något negativt. Vi kan konstatera genom vår studie att samverkan fungerar bättre än vad vi trodde, dock finns det förutsättningar att utveckla samverkan till det bättre.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between family leisure involvement and family functioning among families with an adolescent in mental health treatment. The sample (N=181) was obtained by sampling parents and adolescents enrolled in mental health treatment at Heritage Schools. Of the 181 participants, 52 cases consisted of matched parent and youth responses, 24 cases consisted of just parent responses, and 53 cases consisted of just adolescent responses. It was hypothesized that there would be a relationship between family leisure involvement and family functioning among families with youth in mental health treatment, and that when comparing this sample to a sample of normative families there would be differences between their family functioning and family leisure involvement. Findings indicated significant differences across all family functioning variables and some differences in family leisure involvement variables between the two samples. Findings also indicated significant positive relationships between family leisure and family functioning variables from the parent and youth perspectives in the sample of families with youth in mental health treatment. Recommendations for further research and implications for practitioners are discussed.