Leisure and Behaviour Development

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So far this semester . . . • Key concepts that help frame an understanding of leisure:

• Experience

• Need

• Motivation

• Choice

• Constraint

• Self-expression

• Personality

• Identity

• Commitment

• These factors imply that leisure enables a person to develop, and when developing, one’s leisure adapts

Leisure & the Human Lifespan

Lecture 7 (Week 8)

Age and Gender

• “…two factors that are equally defining for individuals and, as a result, leisure.”

• Note: “…what it means at a particular point in time and space to be a certain age or to be male or female is socially constructed” (more on this next week)

(Kleiber et al 2011 p230)

This week

• Age as a determinant of leisure

• Introduction to developmental processes

• Lifespan approach

• Erikson’s 8 stages

• Gender and leisure (briefly)

• DVD “Girl Wrestler”

• Refer link: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=DVD+Girl+Wrestler&ie= utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=6AplVrHXMcPQ0ATX-56oBQ

• Essay details & tips

Theories of Human Development

• Theories that emphasize biological factors: Evolutionary Theory Psychosexual Theory Cognitive Development Theory • Theories that emphasize environmental factors: Learning Theories Social Role Theory Life Course Theory • Theories that emphasize the interaction of person and environment: Psychosocial Theory Cognitive Social-Historical Theory Dynamic Systems Theory

(Newman & Newman 2007)

What is human development?

• The process of human development reflects predictable age- related changes to the physical, intellectual (cognitive), social, emotional, and spiritual state of the individual

• “…it is systematic and predictable change by which people become qualitatively different in some way from what they were before…” (Kleiber et al 2011 p231)

Aspects of development

• Physical development: physical state (height, weight, health, coordination, fine-motor and gross-motor abilities)

• Intellectual (cognitive) development: mental abilities (learning, memory, reasoning, hypothesising, problem-solving)

• Social development: interpersonal abilities - how we relate to others, sharing, negotiating, etc

• Emotional development: affective components - how we feel, ability to make sense of and express/control our emotional state

• Spiritual development: sense of self, self-expression, awareness of self as distinct from others, and self as part of something bigger (family, community, humanity, etc)

Human Development: Key Points • Development is a lifelong process • Development as gain/loss • Development varies both between individuals and among

behaviours • Individual differences must be recognised and valued • Intra-individual plasticity – individuals vary within themselves • Evolution (phylogeny) and individual development (ontogeny)

are inextricably linked • Various influences interact to produce lifespan development • We mould our environment and therefore shape our

development (Gething et al 1995)

Influences on human development

• Normative age-graded influences • Biological markers e.g. puberty, menopause • Cultural markers e.g. commencing formal education

• Normative history-graded influences • Factors in the wider social and economic milieu e.g. war, famine • Historical events/periods common to a generation or cohort e.g. the

Great Depression, September 11 and global terrorism • Technological-political-cultural shifts e.g. the computer age, changing

roles of women

• Non-normative life events • Negative e.g. life-threatening illness, birth of a child with a disability • Positive e.g. a windfall, an opportunity to live overseas

(Baltes et al 1980 cited in Kleiber et al 2011 pp232-233)

How do we study it?

• The study of human development involves quantitative and qualitative research on the ways people change over time – over the lifespan (from conception to old age).

• “Longitudinal research is necessary to establish changes in the same individual or the same cohort over time” (Kleiber et al 2011 p235)

• Quantitative change measures, for example, height, weight, vocabulary

• Qualitative change is more complex e.g. the changing nature of intelligence

Periods of the human life span

• Prenatal (conception to birth) • Infancy and toddlerhood (birth to age 3) • Early childhood (3 to 6 years) • Middle childhood (6 to 12 years) • Adolescence (12 to 20 years) • Young adulthood (20 to 40 years) • Middle adulthood (40 to 65 years) • Older adulthood (65 years and over)

Personality and Aging Theories

Theories focus on the nature and extent of personality stability and they change over a lifespan Developmental explanations and Personality trait explanations as based on the Big Five. • Extroversion • Agreeableness • Conscientiousness • Neuroticism (vs Emotional Stability) • Openness

Many believe that personality traits are more stable later in life whereas goals, values, styles, control, and beliefs are more likely to change (Bander 2009).

Older adulthood explained

• The science of older adults – Gerontology

• Greater understanding about ageing as a time for growth rather than loss – older adults being viewed more positively in society

• Old age involves several stages:

• The young old “the third age” – 65-75

• The old – 75-85

• The oldest old “the fourth age” – 85+ (at the limits of their functional capacity)

(Kail & Cavanaugh 2012)

Lifespan periods

• Age divisions to designate developmental stages (i.e. infancy, early and middle childhood, adolescence, young, middle and late adulthood) are mostly arbitrary and culturally defined

• The relationship between age and physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development is less precise as individuals get older

Erikson’s 8 Stages

• Trust v Mistrust – Infants (0 to 1 year)

• Autonomy v Shame – Toddlers (2 to 3)

• Initiative v Guilt – Preschoolers (4 to 6)

• Industry v Inferiority – Middle Childhood (7 to 11)

• Identity v Role Confusion – Adolescence (12 to 19)

• Intimacy v Isolation – Young Adulthood (20 to 34)

• Generativity v Stagnation – Middle Adulthood (35 to 65)

• Ego Integrity v Despair – Older Adulthood (65+)

Key developmental processes

Development is directed by two processes:

Differentiation and Hierarchical Integration

• Differentiation – the process of diversifying

(i.e. trying out new and different experiences)

• Hierarchical Integration – the process of connecting a differentiated part to the whole (i.e. making sense of the new information we have about ourselves after these experiences

- happens mostly at the subconscious level)

(Kleiber 1999 p17)

Different aspects of leisure contribute to this process

• Differentiation and leisure • choice

• novelty

• creativity and playful experimentation

• self-discovery

• new challenges, skills, experiences, knowledge

• Hierarchical Integration and leisure • building who we are through

leisure

• commitment

• linking various aspects of our lives through leisure

Example: Taking up canoeing • Differentiating

• New skills (the reverse sweep stroke, handling the canoe in different contexts – still or whitewater)

• New places (different settings, different canoeing experiences)

• New challenges (learning about the breadth and depth of one’s physical abilities and stamina)

• New appreciation (learning about different environments - thinking about the impact of water pollution)

• New friends (other canoeists)

• Integrating

• Once canoeing has been conquered the skills and understanding gained may open up other interests and possibilities – other challenges will seem achievable

• Canoeing may become part of a repertoire of outdoor adventure pursuits

• Identity as an outdoor, adventurous type, a risk-taker

• Becoming committed to canoeing and through it becoming an environmental activist

• Kleiber’s central argument – “that leisure offers conditions for optimizing human development and self-actualization”

• This presupposes two things:

1. that leisure is a context of relative freedom for self-expression, and

2. that development can be, at least partially, self-directed

(Kleiber 1999 p16)

Self-direction and development

• Development is more than just a response to biological and social imperatives, but also a function of our curiosity and attempts to enhance our life

• Therefore, we can think of development as “an active process, not something that simply happens to someone”

• People freely choose to “engage in activities–alone or with others–that are enjoyable and self-expanding”

(Kleiber 1999 pp19-20)

Leisure and Development

Leisure experience relates to development in four principal ways (n.b. the first three can overlap):

• Leisure experience as derivative

• Leisure experience as adjustive

• Leisure experience as generative

• Leisure experience as maladaptive (Kleiber 1999)

• Leisure experience as derivative

• Leisure as a result of developmental change

• Leisure as an expression of a new stage of cognitive or physical ability especially in children and adolescents

• Choice of leisure changes as we get older

• Leisure dictated by the conditions of a changing life e.g. family leisure after marriage and childbirth

• Leisure experience as adjustive • Leisure as respite from

life events

• Leisure as a way of working through fears and anxieties

• Leisure as restorative/curative

e.g. having a good laugh or taking a holiday after losing a spouse

• Leisure experience as generative • Development as a result of

leisure

• Leisure activities generating growth and personal transformation

• Leisure reveals something about ourselves

• Leisure provides opportunities for building and testing new skills

• Leisure as self-expression

• Leisure experience as maladaptive • Leisure hindering

development • Overinvestment in one

leisure activity • Narrowing of

developmental capacity

• Leisure as an impediment to development i.e. destructive leisure choices e.g. prolonged recreational drug use

• Overly busy behaviours – we need to pause and reflect…

Changes in Leisure Behaviour over the Lifespan • Children grow and adults age – as a result leisure

interests, activities and meanings change over time and in line with development

• Experimentalism is much more common among youth than among older people

• Older people prefer stability and security • In fact, the “older generation are responsible for

providing as much stability and security in the environment as they can to afford the young a context in which to explore, experiment, and survive” (Kleiber 1999 p36)

Childhood – the emergence of leisure • Play and playtime (Lecture 9) • Progression from autosphere (based around the body and

bodily sensations) to microsphere (attention to near environment) to macrosphere (the big wide world)

• Early childhood: Toddlers (1-2):

• awareness of freedom, separateness, control over use of space/time • overcome issue of autonomy v self-doubt

Preschoolers (3-6): • willingness to show initiative (self-direction) entertain oneself, be independent, develop

confidence • overcome issue of initiative v guilt

Middle childhood (7-11): • desire to produce, to develop and demonstrate skills, express oneself in a manner that

is meaningful to others • overcome issue of industry v inferiority

Adolescence (12 to 19) – finding a self to be enjoyed

• New sense of ‘adultness’ and individuality, need to separate from familiar others and familiar activities - adolescents are preoccupied with themselves

• Principal task – “becoming a person in one’s own right with a distinct identity” • overcome issue of identity v role confusion

• Not quickly resolved – much exploration needed • experimenting through leisure

• The way time is spent is critical: “Having control over one’s time and one’s choices within that time brings leisure, with its inherent freedom, front and center at this point in the life course” (Kleiber et al 2011 p246)

• Adolescents embrace leisure – sleeping in, watching TV etc – and social activities

• Adolescents feel happiest when they are with others – relatedness (‘being seen’ is reinforcing)

“While the conflict between generations tends to be exaggerated, the “fourth environment”,: as leisure is sometimes called (to distinguish it from work, school and family) is often contested terrain. In one sense, the battle is over free time itself.” (Kleiber et al, p 245)

Adulthood (20+) – role-determined leisure?

• Young adulthood (20-40): new commitments (employment, intimacy, parenthood) • leisure is contextualised by new roles and responsibilities

• intimacy v isolation

• Middle adulthood (40-65): changes in family dynamics, financial security and time availability (ideal conditions for self-expression) • leisure often used to explore neglected aspects of self

• generativity v stagnation

• Older adulthood (65+): earned privileges, more free time to indulge oneself • leisure dependent on disposable income and health

• integrity v despair

Gender and leisure

• Gender differences “account for a lot of variance in leisure behavior across a wide variety of situations”

• Gender differences – socially constructed – are ‘internalized’ and become individual differences

• Gender differences ‘reinforced’ in children’s play

• Gender appropriateness - males had more stigma- consciousness and resistance to ‘crossing over’/females are more inclined to depart from gender stereotypes in leisure choices

(Kleiber et al 2011 pp.257-263)

Gender and leisure

• Women feel greater constraints:

• Certain groups of women have less time and freedom for leisure (e.g. working mothers)

• Participating in certain activities (fear, body image, gender stereotyping)

• On the other hand, women may use leisure to resist burdens of social expectations

(Kleiber et al 2011 pp.257-263)

References

• Gething, L., Papalia, D. & Wendkos Olds, S. (1995). Lifespan Development (2nd Australasian ed.). Sydney: McGraw-Hill.

• Kleiber, D. (1999). Leisure Experience and Human Development. New York: Basic Books.

• Kleiber, D.A., Walker, G.J. & Mannell, R. C. (2011). A Social Psychology of Leisure (2nd edition). State College, PA, Venture.

• Newman, B. & Newman, P. (2007). Theories of Human Development. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.