Leisure Behavior



Leisure Behavior

Particular recreation and leisure choices made by adolescents may place them at increased risk and predispose them to a variety of delinquent behaviors (e.g., substance abuse, violence, truancy). This is especially the case with youth designated as "high risk." Studies have indicated that adolescent substance abuse, violence, homicide, and death resulting from alcohol-related accidents has reached epidemic proportions (Centers for Disease Control, 1992a, 1992b). Further, 40% of 10th graders have reported being intoxicated during the school year, and 14% of 12th graders reported drinking to inebriation on at least a weekly basis (Blum, 1987), while 40% of high school seniors reported using illicit drugs (Iso-Ahola & Crowley, 1991).

Many multidisciplinary prevention and treatment programs have targeted at-risk youth (Jessor, 2005), but few have included leisure behavior as a salient component. The importance of such a component was revealed by Iso-Ahola and Crowley (1991) who found that adolescent substance abusers described their leisure as boring. Thus, leisure activity and the choices leading to such activity were seen to be important elements in predicting at-risk behaviors among adolescents.

A measure that discriminates the ethical behaviors and attitudes of adolescents with regard to their recreation and leisure would provide a valuable resource tool for research, prevention, and intervention programs. Although the application of ethical theory to recreation and leisure choices has been discussed previously (e.g., Mobily, 1985; Sylvester, 1986, 1987, 1991), no previous research has operationalized this concept. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to create an instrument to measure the ethical component of recreation and leisure behavior that can be used to distinguish between high- and low-risk adolescents. The development of the Adolescent Ethical Behavior in Leisure Scale (AEBLS) was based on an interpretation of the ethical system presented in Aristotelian philosophy. A brief discussion of this philosophy as it pertains ...