Masters Theses

Date of Award

6-1987

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Major Professor

Joyce Russel

Committee Members

John W. Lounsbury, Jack M. Larsen

Abstract

The present study was designed to increase the knowledge of relationships and dynamics involved in the nonwork domain by investigating several nonwork variables hypothesized to be related to subsequent leisure satisfaction. The relationships between leisure, work and life satisfactions were also assessed to verify the magnitude and importance of the relationships between these three satisfaction variables.

Subjects were a random sample of 282 individuals (162 males, 119 females, 1 unindicated) drawn from the Knoxville, Tennessee, City Directory. Participants were required to be employed at least half time. Data were collected in 1980 (Lounsbury, Passino & Gordon, 1980) using a questionnaire-interview format that required approximately one to one-and-one-half hours to complete, and was reanalyzed for the present study.

The number of hours a person reported spending in leisure activities was found to be an important variable within the leisure domain. As hypothesized, all three measures of leisure time (total number of hours spent per week, number of hours spent on work days per week, and number of hours spent on nonwork days per week) were found to be negatively related to the number of roles in which a person was involved, and positively related to the total number of leisure activities in which s/he participated. Contrary to prediction, the leisure time variables were not related to the percent of easy activities in which a person engaged, nor to the frequency of participation s/he reported for favorite leisure activities.

Results also suggested some interesting differences which were not anticipated, between leisure hours spent on work days and nonwork days. Average frequency of participation in leisure activities was negatively related to the number of hours spent in leisure on work days, however it was positively related to the number of hours spent in leisure on nonwork days. The average frequency with which a person engaged in difficult leisure activities was significantly related (negatively) only to the number of work day leisure hours s/he reported, a result that was in the opposite direction of that predicted for all leisure time variables.

Leisure satisfaction was found to be positively related to the number of hours a person reported spending in leisure activities, as well as to the frequency of his/her participation in favorite leisure activities. In addition, marginal support was found for the hypotheses that greater leisure satisfaction would be related to a higher average frequency of participation in leisure activities, and more specifically, in difficult activities, as well as to a lower percent of easy activities.

Regression analysis revealed that the nonwork variables investigated in this study accounted for approximated 10% of the variance in leisure satisfaction, with number of roles, and total hours spent in leisure per week being the best predictors of that criterion.

Significant positive relationships were found to exist between work, leisure, and life satisfactions, as hypothesized. Contrary to prediction, no significant difference was found between the correlation of nonwork satisfaction with life satisfaction as compared to the correlation between work satisfaction and life satisfaction.

Regression analyses revealed that the study's leisure variables, along with work and leisure satisfactions explained approximately 33% of the variance in life satisfaction. Leisure satisfaction, number of roles, and work satisfaction (in that order) were the best predictors of life satisfaction.

Limitations of the study were discussed, as were implications of the present results. Directions for future research were also suggested.

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