A Critical Examination of Couple Leisure and the Application of the Core and Balance Model

Leisure in romantic relationships: An avenue for differentiation of self

“…Regardless, when examining time with the partner, time without the partner, and shared time satisfaction with the partner in association with dyadic adjustment, only time satisfaction was significant. These results support findings in leisure research that it is the quality of the time spent with the partner that matters for relationship adjustment, as opposed to the quantity (Johnson et al, 2006;Ward et al, 2014).…”

“…Considering these possibilities, we expected differentiation of self to correlate positively with satisfaction with shared leisure time as well. This view would be supported by previous leisure research which claims that time involvement is less important than time satisfaction with regard to dyadic adjustment (Berg et al, ; Johnson et al, ; Ward et al, ). This study will be the first to attempt to examine a measure of couple leisure time balance and the first to examine differentiation of self with couple leisure time involvement and satisfaction.…”

“…Although the MAP does not have reliability data, the FLAP has an overall test–retest reliability coefficient of .78, and subscale coefficients of .74 and .78 for Core and Balance activities, respectively. The MAP has been significantly associated with relationship satisfaction and shows evidence of construct and content validity (Johnson et al, ; Ward et al, ).…”

“…Leisure time refers to one's participation in activities or forms of recreation beyond occupational pursuits. Independent leisure time is thus the amount of time spent in individual pursuits, whereas couple, shared, or joint leisure time refers to participation in activities that allow for “mutual involvement and interaction during the event,” (Ward et al, , p. 595). One point that is often debated is if the amount of time couples spend together uniquely contributes to relationship satisfaction or if the couples' satisfaction with that time is more important (Johnson, Zabriskie, & Hill, ; Ward et al, ).…”

“…Independent leisure time is thus the amount of time spent in individual pursuits, whereas couple, shared, or joint leisure time refers to participation in activities that allow for "mutual involvement and interaction during the event," (Ward et al, 2014, p. 595). One point that is often debated is if the amount of time couples spend together uniquely contributes to relationship satisfaction or if the couples' satisfaction with that time is more important (Johnson, Zabriskie, & Hill, 2006;Ward et al, 2014). Although the amount of time members of a couple spend together has been consistently linked with relationship satisfaction in older studies (Baldwin, Ellis, & Baldwin, 1999;Orthner, 1975), more recent research suggests that perhaps it is not the amount of time with the partner that matters but the satisfaction with the time spent together (Berg, Trost, Schneider, & Allison, 2001;Ward et al, 2014).…”