Age and Sex Differences among Adolescent Participants in Nine Outdoor Recreation Activities

Abstract

Abstract Responses of 2,760 junior and senior high school students regarding their participation in nine outdoor recreation activities were used to assess the relationships between age, sex, and adolescent outdoor recreation patterns. Analysis of variance revealed that the age variable was statistically significant for eight of the nine activities at the .01 level. The sex variable was significant at the .01 level for five of the nine activities. The findings support previous researchers' conclusions that many traditionally male activities are no longer dominated by males. Differences in outdoor recreation participation among different age groups, within the adolescent life-cycle stage, suggest that it may be inappropriate for recreation opportunity providers to view adolescence as a homogeneous life-cycle stage.