Perceived Parental Control, Restructuring Ability, and Leisure Motivation: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Abstract

Leisure is viewed worldwide as an important developmental context for adolescents. As leisure research and programs are shared across nations, it is crucial to examine the cultural equivalence of leisure-related constructs and how they are related. Grounded in self-determination theory, this study explored the influence of perceived parental control and leisure restructuring ability on leisure motivation (amotivation and autonomous motivation) using samples of eighth grade adolescents in the United States and South Africa. Results of multiple-group structural equation modeling showed that the measurement model of the constructs was equivalent across the two samples, but the determinants of leisure motivation differed between the two samples. The findings provide implications for future cross-cultural research in leisure and offer insights on design and adaptation of leisure-based intervention and education programs in different cultural contexts.

Predicting secondary school dropout among South African adolescents: A survival analysis approach

“…Recent empirical studies found a model with more concise structure may better reflect adolescents’ conceptual understanding and perception of leisure motivations ( Sharp, Caldwell, Graham & Ridenour, 2006 ; Xie, Caldwell, Graham, Weybright, Wegner & Smith, 2016 ; Younker, Caldwell, Coffman & Smith, 2008 ). Given this, items were combined on external and introjected motivation (5 items) to represent adolescents’ extrinsic leisure motivation and combined items on identified and intrinsic motivation (seven items) to measure adolescents’ intrinsic motivation.…”

Parenting practice, leisure experience, and substance use among South African adolescents

“…Parents are important socializing agents in adolescence and influence different domains of adolescents' lives, including use of leisure time (Coyl-Shepherd, & Hanlon, 2013;Larson, Dworkin, & Gillman, 2001). In this study, we distinguish two types of parenting practices in adolescents' leisure: adolescent perception of excessive parental control (i.e., overcontrol; Borelli, Margolin, & Rasmussen, 2015;Xie et al, 2017) and parental involvement in adolescent leisure (Sharp, Caldwell, Graham, & Ridenour, 2006). We define parental leisure overcontrol as interference, often in a coercive manner, in adolescents' leisure.…”

“…Questions for parental leisure involvement and overcontrol have been used in past studies (e.g., Sharp et al, 2006;Xie et al, 2017). Perception of parental leisure overcontrol was measured by three items on a 4-point scale (1 = never or almost never; 2 = some of the time; 3 = quite often; 4 = all of the time, or nearly all the time):…”

“…Participants living in the brick house, flat, or apartment were categorized in the high SES group, while participants living in other types of housing were categorized in the low SES group. All the measures used in this study were from or adapted from previous studies with South African adolescents (e.g., Motamedi et al, 2016;Weybright et al, 2015;Xie et al, 2017).…”

Profiles of adolescent leisure motivation and substance use in the HealthWise South Africa research trial: a person-centered approach

“…Although the Population Registration Act was repealed in 1991, the social impacts are still felt today. Compared to the United States, South African adolescents have fewer resources for and greater constraints against healthy leisure pursuits (Wegner, 2011;Xie et al, 2017). Unlike the United States, however, few non-White high schools in the Western Cape provide a variety of structured, supervised after-school activities, nor do they have the facilities to do so.…”