Patterns of participation in active recreation and leisure boredom among university students

Abstract

Students will experience leisure boredom when they are not exposed to active recreation. The study aimed to determine the participation patterns in active recreation of undergraduate students at a South African university and to what degree they experience leisure boredom. A once-off cross-sectional design consisting of a sample of 581 students was used. Questions related to demographic information, participation frequency, participation format and leisure boredom were included. There were statistically significant differences between the gender groups’ participation frequencies in netball (p=0.010) and social dancing (p=0.044). There were statistically significant differences between all racial groups’ leisure boredom (p=0.000). Medium to large practical significant differences were found between Indian/Asian and Coloured (d=0.9), Coloured and White (d=0.7), and Indian/Asian students and African students (d=0.6). Statistically significant differences (p=0.017) for leisure boredom were found in the total sample for all three accommodation types. Most students prefer to participate on their own or with their friends sharing the same interests, but not all on-campus activities cater to individual participation. This could be because students are more likely to choose activities that provide social opportunities, with the social factor as the second highest-rated motivational factor for active recreation participation.