LEISURE BASED SOCIAL SUPPORT, LEISURE DISPOSITIONS AND HEALTH

This study assessed the moderating effects of characteristics of leisure on the detrimental impact of life stress and health. Two important sets of leisure characteristics were selected for analysis; leisure based social support and leisure dispositions, including perceived freedom, intrinsic motivation and boredom. Data were provided by 51 women and 53 men, between the ages of 20 and 81 years, who completed a mailed questionnaire. Relationships between predictor variables and self-reported illness were assessed using incremental regression analysis. The set of leisure dispositions, particularly perceived leisure freedom, was found to interact with life stress to help explain about 10% of severity of illnesses variance. Thus, undertaking leisure characterized by perceived freedom was related to health in a way consistent with its being able to reduce the usual detrimental impact of high levels of life stress. Contrary to expectations, leisure based social support was not related to health.