Differential Effects of Past Experience, Commitment, and Lifestyle Dimensions on River Use Specialization

Measuring Specialization among Birders: Utility of a Self-Classification Measure

“…Researchers generally concur that the construct is multidimensional and should be measured in terms of both behavioral and attitudinal indicators. Beyond this, there is little agreement about how precisely to characterize and measure the construct (Kuentzel & McDonald, 1992;Scott & Shafer, 2001). The second issue concerns the classification of recreationists along the specialization continuum.…”

A Qualitative Exploration of Female Surfers: Recreation Specialization, Motivations, and Perspectives

“…Consistent with Kuentzel and McDonald's (1992) and with Lee and Scott's (2004) to Booth (1999) surfers bared labels and images including "nomads" and "wanders" among other stereotypes that reflected the "soul-surfing," irresponsible, and "joblessjunkie" nature of their lifestyle. Today, however, female participants may be referring to the calming and relaxing influence surfing has on their everyday lives.…”

“…These studies suggest that a participant's level of recreation specialization increases or decreases depending on the degree and range of experience, investment, and other factors. Therefore, researchers suggested that the critical and measurable dimensions supported by clear theoretical foundation have not been agreed upon in the field of recreational specialization (Kuentzel & McDonald, 1992;Watson & Niccolucci, 1992). In this section Bryan's original dimensions of present and past experience, commitment, enduring involvement, skill level, and equipment preference will be discussed.…”

“…Previous research mainly views centrality in terms of how an activity is central to one's lifestyle (i.e., Buchanan, 1985;Kuentzel & McDonald, 1992;McFarlane, 1994aMcFarlane, , 1994b. However, findings reveal two subcategories of centrality including surfing as one's central leisure activity and surfing as central to one's lifestyle.…”

“…Subsequent research explored specific activities using Bryan's continuum and later expanded and altered the components used to measure the specialization continuum. Research included activities such as birding (Lee & Scott, 2004;McFarlane, 1994aMcFarlane, , 1994bMcFarlane, , 1996, canoeing (Kauffman & Graefe, 1984;, hunting (Kuentzel & Heberlein, 1992;Miller & Graefe, 2000), hiking and backpacking (Virden & Schreyer, 1988;Williams & Huffman, 1987), vehicle-based campers (McIntyre & Pigram, 1992), sailing and motor boating (Donnelly et al 1986), non-motorized whitewater watercraft users (Bricker & Kerstetter, 2000;Kuentzel & McDonald, 1992), mountaineering , bridge players (Scott & Godbey, 1994), and surfing (Farmer, 1992). Angling specialization also received considerable attention (Chipman & Helfrich, 1988;Choi, Loomis, & Ditton, 1994;Hase, 1996).…”