Leisure Motivation and Well-being among Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

Leisure activities give us the space, time and freedom to be ourselves. Research shows that these activities have a positive impact on life satisfaction and well-being. The objectives of the study were (a) to examine the differences in leisure motivation and well-being (b) to explore the relationship between leisure motivation and well-being (c) and to examine the effect of leisure motivation on well-being among adolescents and young adults. Utilizing between-subjects design, 100 adolescents (14–19 years) and 100 young adults (20–27 years) completed the Leisure Motivation and Well-being measures. Independent t-test revealed a significant difference between two groups on amotivation subscale and well-being score. The results indicate that when intrinsic motivation to know, to accomplish, to experience stimulation and extrinsic motivation - identified and introjected is high, well-being is also high. Leisure motivation explained significant proportion of variance in well-being for entire sample. The implications of the study are discussed.