SERIOUS AND CASUAL LEISURE ACTIVITIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF YOUNG ADULT IDENTITY : A STUDY BASED ON PARTICIPANTS ’ SELF -

Leisure activities and identity interact and structure young people’s lives. Em pirical research on such interaction is scarce and contradictory. This paper explores the relationships between leisure activities with different levels of OBETS. Revista de Ciencias Sociales Vol. 12, Extra 1, 2017, pp. 65-80 ISSN-e: 1989-1385 | ISSN: 2529-9727 DOI: 10.14198/OBETS2017.12.1.12 commitment (serious, casual) and identity traits. A total of 938 young people (476 men and 462 women) aged 18 to 24 (M = 21.13; DT = 1.98) comple ted a time budget (TB) and a self-description questionnaire about identity based on the Twenty-Statements Test, as well an association between the TB and the self-descriptions. The study shows the complementarity of serious and casual leisure in the formation of youth identities and gender differences.


INTRODUCTION
Youth is one of the most relevant stages of human development; it is important and distinct from other phases because of the numerous, rapid, physical, biological and psychosocial changes experienced.Among these changes, the quest for autonomy and freedom and personal relationships with peers have enormous psychosocial content, and leisure -when not the medium-is closely linked to this quest.In effect, the sphere of leisure activities plays a fundamental role, since it is there -more than in other areas of everyday life-that young people have greater opportunities to exercise their autonomy and freedom to be and not be with certain people, as well as doing and not doing certain activities (Codina, 1986;Silbereisen & Todt, 1994).The greatest possibilities of discovering their interests and developing their personal identity emerge in relation to these two freedoms of being and doing (Erikson, 1968;Kleiber, 1999;Waterman, 1990).In this sense, it is important not to ignore the fact that, between the genders, there are not only differences in levels of participation and interest in certain leisure activities and behaviors, but also in the experience and role of leisure in everyday life and, consequently, in the development of social identity (Codina, Pestana, Castillo, Balaguer, 2016;Henderson & Shaw, 2006).
The majority of authors maintain that the identity process is one of the most active in youth -and that leisure activities take the center stage in this process.However, these assertions are not generally accompanied by rigorous empirical studies that demonstrate this relationship in detail (Eccles & Barber, 1999;Fredricks, Alfeld-Liro, Hruda, Eccles, Patrick, & Ryan, 2002;Hansen, Larson, & Dworkin, 2003;Kleiber, Walker & Mannell, 2011;Larson, 2000;Stebbins, 2001, Verma & Larson, 2003).In fact, the findings of the studies carried out to date have brought to light important nuances and contradictions.For example, it has been observed that not all leisure activities contribute to the optimal development of the young adult, nor are they experienced equally.In this respect, Eccles and Barber (1999) have shown that structured activities -organized on a regular timetable and displaying commitment, guidance, direction, progressively greater goals, complexity and challenges-correlate with socially desirable behaviors (Mahoney & Stattin, 2000;Mahoney, Stattin & Lord, 2004).In contrast, poorly structured activities are related to behaviors valued as socially negative.For their part, Shin and You (2013) have found that active leisure has more positive effects than non-active or social leisure, because individual identity is much more involved in the former.This is due to the fact that active leisure activities offer values and challenges that help the individual to feel part of the activity and reflect on the correspondence between investment and benefits (Burke 1991;Coatsworth Sharp, Palen, Darling, Cumsille, & Marta, 2005;Shin & Oh, 2012;Shin & You, 2013).As can be seen, structured leisure does not satisfy the need for autonomy and independence sought by young people.Nonetheless, there is a leisure mode that does present some of the requirements; we are referring to serious leisure, which consubstantially requires some degree of commitment to the activity.
In effect, some of the parameters evaluated to reveal the different relationships between types of leisure activities and identity are found in serious leisure (Stebbins, 1992); this type of leisure is characterized by the commitment and dedication shown by the participants, who seek to improve their skills in the activity -so that the performance of the activity follows a developmental process similar to that of a professional career, generating its own social world- (Codina, 1999;Stebbins, 2006).Identity is one of the core aspects of this serious leisure process.In the words of Stebbins himself (2001: 56) "every serious leisure activity offers a major lifestyle and identity for its enthusiasts".
Although it seems that participation in a serious leisure activity enables the individual to acquire a positive sense of identity (Green & Jones, 2005), other types of leisure are also essential for its optimal development (Codina & Pestana, 2008;Kleiber, Walker, & Mannell, 2011), including -and in relation to serious leisure-casual leisure, a type of leisure that does not pursue specific goals.Thus, as argued by the Serious Leisure Perspective (SLP) itself, an optimal leisure lifestyle consists of an appealing balance of serious and casual leisure (Stebbins, 2005).On the other hand, when there is over-identification with an activity (for example, sport), this prevents the person from participating in other leisure experiences and thereby experiencing other roles or identities -and so identity is constructed on a one-dimensional basis- (MacCoshan & Gravelle, 2016;Miller & Kerr, 2002;Werthner & Orlick, 1986).To better understand the potential of these two leisure modes individually and in conjunction, we will first review the concepts.
Serious leisure is a category of the SLP, which in people' s everyday lives is defined as "the systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer core activity that is highly substantial, interesting and fulfilling, and where, in the typical case, participants find a career in acquiring and expressing a combination of its special skills, knowledge, and experience" (Stebbins, 1992: 3).Some types of leisure activities tend to become serious because of the way they are practiced, such as physical and sports activities, music, or collecting.The studies that compare those people who do serious leisure and those who do not show that the former stand apart in the following ways: 1) they develop a unique ethos on becoming involved in the social world of the activity performed; 2) they obtain lasting benefits such as self-fulfillment and self-enrichment; 3) they show perseverance; 4) they make a significant personal effort; 5) they manage the leisure activity as if it were a career "in leisure" (equivalent to a professional career); and 6) they strongly identify with the activity (Elkington & Stebbins, 2014;Stebbins, 2015).All told, these qualitative dimensions describe how the process of serious leisure becomes a central component of people' s lives.
On the other hand, casual leisure is "immediately, intrinsically rewarding; and it is a relatively short-lived, pleasurable activity requiring little or no special training to enjoy it.It is fundamentally hedonic; it is engaged in for the significant level of pure enjoyment, or pleasure, found there" (Stebbins, 1997: 18).Activities considered casual leisure include relaxation (taking a nap), active entertainment (meeting up to play), passive entertainment (watching television), sensory stimulation (e.g.drinking alcohol) and social conversation.The main benefits of casual leisure have been listed as the development of creative and discovery skills, restorative power, maintenance of interpersonal relations, and improved wellbeing and quality of life (Elkington & Stebbins, ibid.).For their part, Hutchinson and Kleiber (2005) point out that casual leisure provides protection against stress, by aiding self-recovery (when expe-riencing pleasure in situations of stress), besides favoring processes of change conducive to personal development (for example, by altering priorities or revealing new paths in life).Thus, it is clear that casual leisure complements serious leisure in the sense that it provides an opportunity to take a rest from the intensity of serious leisure (Stebbins, 1997).And also, as noted earlier, it is an important asset for the construction of identity, since it provides variety.
Although the majority of authors do not hesitate to affirm the necessary complementarity of leisure activities in the construction of identity, the empirical findings are partial.On the one hand, in the research done on serious leisure, various specific activities (such as kayaking, skydiving, climbing or running) have been studied to highlight the relationship between serious leisure and identity, using qualitative methods to obtain a conceptual structure of the interrelationship between identity and serious leisure.On the other hand, there are no studies of the relationship between casual and serious leisure (MacCosham & Gravelle, 2016).
In view of the above, the goal of this research was to learn about young people' s leisure activities -both serious and casual-and main identity traits, and the link between identity traits and the aforesaid leisure activities.These relationships allow us to formulate the hypothesis that guides this study, according to which the serious and casual leisure are related in a differential way with respect to the identity traits of the youth.

METHODOLOGY Participants
A total of 938 young people (476 boys and 462 girls) aged between 18 and 24 years old (M = 21.13 years; SD = 1.98) participated in a study on time use among young people in Spain (for further details, see the note on research funding).The sample was obtained from an online panel using proportional allocation, for a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of 3.2%.The quotas set for the sample -based on the Spanish population census dated 01/01/2015 (INE, 2015)-were sex and age (the aforementioned 18 to 24-year-old age bracket)

Instruments
Two tests were used.The first one consisted of an ad hoc questionnaire with the structure and characteristics of the Time Budget Technique (TBT), designed along the lines of the instrument proposed by Neulinger (1986) in his research.Specifically, this study used the adaptations and applications introduced for various studies carried out in the Spanish context (Codina, 1999(Codina, , 2007;;Codina & Pestana, 2009, 2016;Codina, Pestana, Balaguer & Castillo, 2016).The activities carried out on the day before the day the data was collected were registered in the TBT used for this research.
After completing the TBT, in the second test the respondents were asked about their most important character traits (i.e.self-descriptions), a question based on the instrument known as the Twenty-Statement Test (TST: Kuhn & McPartland, 1954).This has proved to be a sensitive test for capturing a wide variety and wealth of self-descriptions (in our case, see the studies by Codina, 1998;Codina & Pestana, 2008;Escobar, 1983;Escobar, Montes & Sánchez-Sierra, 2015;Morales, 1989).

Procedure
The fieldwork was preceded by two preparatory phases that followed the guidelines of previous research developed in the field of leisure activities (Codina & Pestana, 2012, 2016).In the first phase, the research team worked with specialized technical staff to introduce the items into the software in the format the participants would see.To prevent data loss, the questionnaire was programmed so that, to complete it, each of the questions had to be answered in order.In other words, progress could only be made when the previous question on the screen had been answered (otherwise, the users were reminded by a pop-up window).The response categories for each question appeared on the same screen so as to avoid the need to scroll down.Once the final programming of the questionnaire had been verified, a pilot test was carried out.The results of this test were used to make any necessary adjustments to the format.
After a last performance check, the participants were sent an e-mail inviting them to take part in the study, with a direct link to the instrument (a single-use link, which could not be re-opened once the answers had been sent).Access to the questions was set for November 2015.The invitation was only extended to persons who met the established age requirement.

Data analysis
When processing the findings, the following variables were considered: characteristics of the sample (gender and age), leisure activities done and self-descriptions.In order to classify the responses obtained about leisure activities, we followed the guidelines approved by the European Union for validating research on time use (EUROSTAT, 2009).As regards the categorization of self-descriptions, we followed the criteria established by Escobar et al. (2015).These authors have drawn on the analysis carried out by Kuhn and McPartland (1954) on the subjective meaning of the definitions that people provide about themselves (also called sub-consensual statements) to define five attitudinal categories: 1) self-evaluations, through which individuals express their way of being in the light of six possible dimensions -intellectual aptitudes (competencies that are not directly observable), practical aptitudes (observable behavioral competencies), character and morals (self-reflections), social life (relational characteristics), appearance (evaluation of physical self-image) and emotional outlook (state of mind); 2) self-esteem, where people express their degree of satisfaction with themselves; 3) preferences, description of personal tastes; 4) beliefs, expression of opinions about reality; and 5) ambitions, statements regarding their own future.
As appropriate, the associations between the variables were calculated using the Chi square coefficient (between participants' gender, leisure activities and self-descriptions).For reasons of brevity, only the cases with the most significant associations are shown in the tables.Confidence levels considered in data analysis correspond basically to those recommended by the American Psychological Association ("a 95% or 99% confidence interval": APA, 2010, p. 34); even though, if an association with a confidence level around 90% brings into light an issue of importance related to the research carried out, this association is also underlined.

Young adults' leisure activities and their relationship with identity
Taking the sample as a whole, the leisure activity (Table 1) practiced by over half the participants was watching television, DVD or videos (n = 518, 55.2%).This was followed by social life (n = 518, 55.2%) and listening to the radio or recordings (n = 216, 23.0%).Physical exercise (n = 147, 15.7%) and computer use (n = 139, 14.8%) displayed percentages of around 15%.When analyzing leisure activities according to gender, significant differences were observed in social life (χ 2 = 4.16, p = .041),physical exercise (χ 2 = 2.85, p = .091)and computer use (χ 2 = 3.82, p = .082).As far as social life is concerned, girls were more active (53.6%, compared to 46.9% of men).On the other hand, men scored higher on physical exercise and computer use (respectively, 57.1% and 57.6%, compared to 42.9% and 42.4% among girls).
When defining themselves (Table 2), most participants provided selfdescriptions relating to both character and moral traits (n = 739, 78.8%), as well as about how they relate socially (n = 638, 68.0%).In contrast to this trend, it can be seen that lesser numbers provided self-descriptions about their appearance (such as physical attractiveness: n = 123, 13.1%) or emotional state (n = 171, 18.2%).
When comparing the type of self-descriptions cited according to gender (idem Table 2), it is observed that men make more mention of intellectual characteristics (χ 2 = 4.16, p = .041)while women are in the majority when referring to preferences (χ 2 = 16.14, p = .000).The presence of one type of self-description or another also shows significant associations depending on the leisure activities practiced (Table 3).Thus, character or moral attributes are mentioned by those active in entertainment and culture (χ 2 = 4.43, p = .035),and art and hobbies (χ 2 = 2.87, p = .090).The expression of preferences is habitual among those who participate more in social life (χ 2 = 3.56, p = .059),watch TV, DVD or videos (χ 2 = 4.87, p = .027)and listen to the radio or recordings (χ 2 = 5.71, p = .017).Other significant associations observed reveal that the practice of an activity may be associated with the absence of any reference to certain self-descriptions.Specifically, those who enjoy the leisure activities of reading (χ 2 = 4.01, p = .045)and listening to the radio or recordings (χ 2 = 6.77, p = .009)tend to ignore self-descriptions concerning appearance.For their part, those who do physical exercise are those who most avoid self-descriptions of their emotional outlook (χ 2 = 3.29, p = .070).

Discussion
Overall, the research findings provide new insights into young adults' leisure activities and identities.At the same time, they illustrate the potential of the TBT and TST, used independently and in combination.These findings are specific on four aspects: the characterization of young people' s leisure activities as serious or casual leisure; the main traits that make up youth identity; the associations between leisure activities and self-descriptions; and the gender differences displayed in the practice of leisure activities and in the descriptions that people provide of themselves.Among the eight leisure activities mentioned by the participants -and following Stebbins (1992Stebbins ( , 1997Stebbins ( , 2006))-three are classified as serious leisure (physical exercise, art and hobbies, computer use) being casual leisure the remaining five (social life, entertainment and culture, reading, watching television, DVDs or videos, listening to the radio or recordings).
As has been observed, casual leisure activities (social life and watching television, DVDs or videos) are the ones practiced by larger proportions of the sample.As far as serious leisure activities (physical exercise and computer use) are concerned, these are practiced by approximately fifteen per cent of the sample.Regarding young people' s identity, the most frequent self-descriptions focus on the attitudinal categories dealing with character (or morals) and social life.
Leisure activities and self-descriptions of identity are related in two complementary ways.On the one hand, there are activities whose practice is speci fically associated with certain self-descriptions; and, on the other hand, it seems that certain self-descriptions are played down on taking up a leisure activity.
With regard to the leisure activities under consideration, it has been observed that those who practice serious leisure activities such as arts and hobbies focus their self-descriptions on character and moral traits, while an activity such as physical exercise minimizes the importance of emotional outlook.People whose leisure activities fall into the casual category tend to express their preferences and describe their characters and morals; likewise, there are casual leisure activities that play down the self-description of appearance.Among casual leisure activities, listening to the radio or recordings deserves special mention, since those who practice this activity state their preferences but minimize the relevance of self-descriptions of appearance.
One of the findings that will not leave those researching the relationship between leisure and identity indifferent is the verification of the differences between men and women -both in relation to leisure activities and self-descriptions of identity.Preferences about activities and the prevalence of certain self-descriptions fuel the debate on the differences between men and women in terms of leisure and identity, in the light of serious and casual leisure in this case.

CONCLUSIONS
Young people' s leisure activities and identity have been researched using methodologies and theories that had not previously been applied conjointly.To be precise, new and relevant information on the relationship between leisure and youth identity has been obtained through qualitative methodologies where the participants felt free to express themselves.But the novelty of this methodological proposal is twofold.On the one hand, it works a qualitative approach with quantitative rigor, which is reflected both in the preparation of mate rials and the software for collecting data, as well as in the analysis of the results -in which an attempt is made to minimize the inferences derived from the subjectivity of the researcher.On the other hand, the procedure carried out reveals relationships and knowledge that in other methodological approaches imply reductions, given the simplicity of the reality that introduce the structured questionnaires tests or highly codified answers analysis.
As regards the contributions of this research to the existing corpus of knowledge, we have studied the relationships between leisure activities and identities by means of consolidated theoretical frameworks such as the Stebbins' s Serious Leisure Perspective and Kuhn and McPartland's analysis of subconsensual self-descriptions.In this aspect -and unlike many studies in which it is argued that leisure is fundamental in the construction of identities-this work shows explicitly and empirically how serious leisure and casual leisure dialogue with the construction of identity.
As regards the significant associations between certain leisure activities and attitudinal self-descriptions, it is observed that while casual leisure is generally linked to self-descriptions of preferences, serious leisure activities such as hobbies are significantly associated with moral self-descriptions, but not significantly associated with self-descriptions of physical activity and emotional outlook.Therefore, as well as revealing significant associations between activities and self-descriptions, it emerges that the activities that demand more commitment -and the activities that do not-are linked to different attitudinal aspects of the self.These findings draw attention to the complementary roles played by serious leisure and casual leisure in the construction of plural identities -those that better protect and strengthen the person- (Codina & Pestana, 2008;Linville, 1987).
The results also confirm an established fact and one of its effects.We are referring to the differences in leisure practices determined by gender, and their repercussions on the male and female processes of identity.This finding is important, because, to the usual differences in the practice of certain activities, it is shown that these differences go beyond reflecting the construction of identity.Moreover, it enables us to understand other differences that are related to the temporal attitudes (like Time Perspective or Procrastination: Codina & Pestana, 2016).The methodology and theory applied in this study reveal promising relationships that demand deeper research.In this respect, it is necessary to analyze the evaluations made by young people about those leisure activities where they differ from each other, as well as their perceptions of identity.The latter is an example of the wide range of stimulating questions and challenges that derive from the findings of this study.

NOTE
This study was funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain conjointly with the European Regional Development Fund (project EDU2012-39080-C07-04).The authors would like to thank Christopher Gladwin for his invaluable help in correcting the English language manuscript.This correction received the financial support of the PsicoSAO-Research Group in Social, Environmental, and Organizational Psychology (2014 SRG 992; Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement, Generalitat de Catalunya).

Table 3 . Leisure activities practiced. Prevalence according to type of self-description
For reasons of brevity, only those activities where significant differences are observed have been included