Leisure and spiritual well-being, a social scientific exploration

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to develop a model of leisure and spiritual well-being and to investigate, from a social science perspective, the relationships between various dimensions of leisure style (activity, motivation, setting and time) and spiritual well-being, as well as the processes linking leisure and spiritual well-being. Study 1 involved secondary analysis of data from the 1996 Ontario Parks Camper Survey which asked a question concerning the degree to which introspection/spirituality added to satisfaction with the park experience. It was found that more natural settings, participation in nature-oriented activities and being along in these settings and activities were more likely to be associated with introspection/spirituality adding to the satisfaction with the park experience. Study 2, in-depth interviews with eight people who had an expressed interest in spirituality, explored the relationship between leisure and spiritual well-being. There was unanimous agreement that participants associated their leisure activities and experiences with their spiritual well-being. Participants saw leisure as providing the time and space for spiritual well-being. An attitude of openness, balance in life, nature settings, settings of personal or human history, settings of quiet, solitude and silence, and "true to self" activities were all conducive to spiritual well-being while busyness, noisy settings and activities, and incongruent activities were detrimental to spiritual well-being. Study 3 was a survey (n=248) which explored the relationships between the various dimensions of leisure style and spiritual well-being, and the processes linking them. There were significant relationships between spiritual well-being and the following leisure style components: personal development activities, cultural activities, outdoor activities, hobbies, overall leisure activity participation, intellectual motivations, stimulus-avoidance motivations, overall leisure motivation, leisure settings of quiet urban recreation areas and one's own home, and solitary leisure activity participation. Stepwise regression analyses showed that participation in personal development activities was the best predictor of spiritual well-being, followed by stimulus-avoidance motivations and a setting of one's own home. Through cluster analysis it was discovered that a leisure style of low leisure activity participation and low leisure motivation (Mass Media Type) was associated with lower spiritual well-being. A "Sports/Social/Media" leisure style, characterized by stimulus seeking, was associated with a moderate level of spiritual wellbeing. More than one type of leisure style ("Personal Development" and "Overall Active") was associated with higher levels of spiritual well-being. A Leisure-Spiritual Processes (LSP) Scale, developed from the literature review and findings of the first two studies, examined the 12 processes (grounding, working through, time and space, sacralization, attitude, busyness, being away, nature, sense of place, fascination, compatibility, and repression) hypothesized to link leisure with spiritual well-being. Numerous significant relationships were found between the various leisure style components and both the overall leisure-spiritual processes score and individual leisure-spiritual processes. Factor analysis of the LSP Scale suggested a three factor solution and these factors were labelled SACRALIZATION (leisure sensitizes one to the spiritual), PLACE (setting factors), and REPRESSION (leisure represses the spiritual tendency of a person). Path analysis suggested a series of models that linked leisure style components directly, and indirectly through the leisure-spiritual processes, to behavioural spiritual well-being and both directly and indirectly to subjective spiritual well-being. In summary, the findings suggested that the leisure style components of time, activity, motivation and setting, both individually and through the interplay of all the components, have the potential to either directly, or indirectly through the processes of SACRALIZATION, PLACE and REPRESSION, enhance or detract from spiritual well-being. Future research needs to examine the usefulness of spiritual well-being scales, identify various dimensions of spiritual well-being, and use other samples of individuals. Revisions of the leisure-spiritual processes scale and refining and testing various models of leisure style and spiritual well-being are also required. The findings have implications for recreation practice in terms of leisure education which could stress the importance of personal development activities, settings of one's own home, leisure motivations, "true to self" activities, and solitary leisure activity for spiritual well-being.