Leisure and well-being among adolescents: A qualitative study

Pages: 936-943
Gaurav Verma (Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, Delhi )

Leisure has been important concept especially in the domain of positive youth development. As adolescents, spend their majority of waking hours in leisure time activities. Participation in leisure activities serves multiple purposes to their everyday life. The present study attempts to highlight psychological dimensions of leisure and processes that connect their leisure time activities to their global well-being. Qualitative methods involving semi-structured interviews were employed with 10 participants, between the ages of 14-19 years. The findings of the study revealed that: (a) leisure improves the ability of participants to cope with and improve performance, (b) leisure facilitates meaningful connections with self and others and serve the basic purpose of socialization, (d) Four types of psychological mechanisms such as detachment-recovery, intrinsic motivation, affiliation and meaningfulness play mediating role in maintaining well-being. The purpose of this research was to uncover processes that link leisure with subjective well-being through qualitative interviews.