The Occupation of Leisure: Three Typologies and Their Influence on Mental Health in Adolescence

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Passmore

In the occupational therapy literature reviewed, limited empirical research has tested the links between the occupation of leisure and health. This study examines the influences of leisure participation on mental health outcomes in adolescents and investigates the mediating constructs of self-efficacy, competence, and global self-worth as hypothesized in an a priori model developed from earlier research. With the use of a population-based approach, this study surveyed 850 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years, using a standardized self-report battery. Structural equation modeling was employed to investigate relationships and test the goodness-of-fit of the hypothesized model. Results demonstrate that leisure participation has a significant and positive relationship with mental health, and positively influences self-efficacy, competence, and global self-worth. However, results also show that only selected forms of leisure are positive influences on adolescent mental health development. These findings provide evidence to support a theoretical basis for the relationship between the occupation of leisure and health, and are discussed in relation to occupational therapy ideology.

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Passmore ◽  
Davina French

AbstractDevelopment and maintenance of mental health is a major requirement for successful adolescent transition. During this critical process of change, when many mental health concerns first manifest, it has been suggested that positive leisure experiences provide opportunities that support and promote adolescent development and mental health. This investigation examined the relationship between leisure and mental health in an adolescent population. Based on an extensive literature review and analysis of focus-group interviews with 130 adolescents, it was hypothesised that self-efficacy, competence, and self-worth act as mediators between leisure and mental health. Measures of leisure, mental health, and the three intervening factors were collected from a total sample of 850 adolescents aged from 12 to 18 years. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the interrelationships of the variables and for testing the goodness-of-fit of the hypothesised model. Results suggest that some forms of positive leisure involvement, namely achievement-oriented leisure (which provides challenges and a range of demands), and social leisure, do significantly influence mental health through the identified intervening factors. The construct of competence, in particular, formed a crucial link in the model. However, the third type of leisure, time-out leisure (which typically involves solitary activities such as lying on one's bed and reflecting, or watching television), demonstrated a significant but negative association with mental health. These outcomes provide some guidelines for facilitating and promoting mental health through leisure in adolescence.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Majid Golzarpour ◽  
Meroe Vameghi ◽  
Homeira Sajjadi ◽  
Gholamreza Ghaedamini Harouni

<p><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong> Worldwide, much evidence exists on the influence of parents’ socioeconomic conditions, including employment, on children’s health. However, the mechanisms for this affect are still being investigated. Few studies have been conducted in Iran to investigate this issue. This study investigated working conditions, job satisfaction, and mental health of employed people and the association between these variables and their children’s health.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>MATERIALS &amp; METHODS:</strong> In this correlational work, 200 male and female staff of the official part of Educational Organization and the schools of Mashhad with children aged 5-18 years was randomly selected. The data were gathered using a demographic questionnaire, the 20-item Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, the 28-item General Health Questionnaire, and the 28-item Child Health Questionnaire. The data were then analyzed using SPSS. The associations under study were investigated by structural equation modeling in AMOS.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>RESULTS:</strong> Approximately 17% of the variation in the parents’ job satisfaction could be explained by the parents’ insurance, income, and work hours; 6% of the variation in their mental health was explained by job satisfaction, and 26% of the variation in children’s health was directly explained by the parents’ job satisfaction and mental health. However, approximately 32.2% of the variation in children’s health could be explained in the light of the direct effect of the parents’ mental health and direct and indirect effects of the parents’ job satisfaction. The goodness of fit index was 0.94.</p><p><strong>CONCLUSION:</strong> Parents’ job satisfaction was associated with and considerably explained children’s health. Although this finding may be partially related to the job satisfaction effect on mental health, the reasons for the affect of job satisfaction on children’s health and the potential mechanisms of this association require further studies.<strong></strong></p>


Children ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Xiang ◽  
Xiangli Gu ◽  
Xiaoxia Zhang ◽  
Samantha Moss ◽  
Chaoqun Huang ◽  
...  

Depression has become the most prevalent mental health problem in developing countries, and especially among adolescents. Lubans and his colleagues proposed a psychosocial mechanism to understand the trajectory of mental health (i.e., depression). Thus, this study aimed (1) to examine the relations between different doses of physical activity (PA), light PA (LPA), moderate PA (MPA), and vigorous PA (VPA), academic self-efficacy, and depression among adolescents, and (2) to investigate the direct and indirect relations of various doses of PA to depression through academic self-efficacy among middle school adolescents. Participants were 428 (235 boys, Mean age = 13.7) adolescents recruited from two middle schools in China. They completed previously validated questionnaires to measure different intensity levels of PA (LPA, MPA, and VPA), academic self-efficacy, and depression. There were significant associations of academic self-efficacy with three different doses of PA (p < 0.01). Both LPA and MPA were negatively associated with depression but not VPA. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed a well-fit model suggesting the psychosocial pathway from different doses of PA to depression through academic self-efficacy. Findings of this study indicated that academic self-efficacy regulates adolescents’ depression. Tailoring different intensities of PA benefits adolescents’ academic self-efficacy by framing the positive and supportive environment in schools, which can potentially reduce the prevalence of depression during adolescence.


Author(s):  
Tali Heiman ◽  
Dorit Olenik-Shemesh

The current study examined whether perceived social support mediated the effects of loneliness and self-efficacy on well-being among students with or without a learning disability (LD). Participants included 834 elementary, middle, and high school students from Israel (29.6% students with LDs) who completed self-report questionnaires. The results of structural equation modeling indicate that social support mediates the indirect effects of age, gender, loneliness and self-efficacy on well-being. In addition, the results show differences between groups, as non-LD girls noted a higher self-efficacy and well-being than boys, and well-being had indirect effects in the non-LD group than in the LD group. These results indicate students with LDs have a unique social-emotional profile that affects their well-being. The study highlights the importance of enhancing self-efficacy and reducing loneliness in order to increase social support, thus predicting positive well-being. Effective and practical educational programs are needed for both groups across age and gender.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhui Mao ◽  
Rui Yang ◽  
Marino Bonaiuto ◽  
Jianhong Ma ◽  
László Harmat

A growing number of studies suggest that flow experience is associated with life satisfaction, eudaimonic well-being, and the perceived strength of one’s social and place identity. However, little research has placed emphasis on flow and its relations with negative experiences such as anxiety. The current study investigated the relations between flow and anxiety by considering the roles of self-esteem and academic self-efficacy. The study sample included 590 Chinese university students, who were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire on flow, anxiety, self-esteem, and academic self-efficacy. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS software, in which both factorial analysis and path analysis were performed. Results revealed that the experience of flow negatively predicted anxiety, and both self-esteem and academic self-efficacy fully mediated the path between flow and anxiety. Specifically, self-esteem played a crucial and complete mediating role in this relationship, while academic self-efficacy mediated the path between self-esteem and anxiety. Our findings enrich the literature on flow experience and help with identifying practical considerations for buffering anxiety and more broadly with fostering strategies for promoting psychological sustainability and resilience.


2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 996-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mi Sun Choi ◽  
Holly Dabelko-Schoeny ◽  
Mo Yee Lee ◽  
Alicia C Bunger

Abstract Background and Objectives Prolonged working life is not necessarily associated with good mental health. Despite the importance of healthy working life in later years, little research has been conducted on predictors of mental health in the workplace among older workers. This study aimed to investigate how personal (self-efficacy) and team (leader equity) factors are associated with older workers’ mental health through work engagement. Research Design and Methods We analyzed responses of 508 U.S. workers aged 50 years and older from the Age and Generations Study data using structural equation modeling. Results Results showed that perceived self-efficacy was a strong predictor of mental health. Also, work engagement was a powerful mechanism for promoting older adults’ mental health; engagement partially mediated the relationship between perceived self-efficacy and mental health, and fully mediated the relationship between team leader equity and mental health. Discussion and Implications The findings highlight how important it is for employers to invest in human capital development, suggesting human resource programs should focus on strategies that target older adults’ engagement through tailored self-efficacy programs and inclusive leadership training programs. Such attempts would contribute to enhancing the mental health of older workers.


Author(s):  
Feifei Huang ◽  
Zhaofeng Huang ◽  
Zhe Li ◽  
Minqiang Zhang

This study conceptualized the multidimensional construct of parental involvement, including cognitive involvement, behavioral involvement, and personal involvement, and examined the mediating effects of student’s mental health and mathematics self-efficacy. Questionnaires were administered to 2866 early adolescents and their parents in China; structural equation modeling and bias-corrected bootstrap methods were used. The results show that different dimensions of parental involvement had different effects on mathematics achievement. Additionally, results indicate that the influences of the multidimensional construct of parental involvement on mathematics achievement were either partially or completely mediated by student’s mental health and mathematics self-efficacy. The findings also offer insight into possible interventions designed to explore how parental involvement promotes students’ mathematics achievement through their children’s mental health and mathematics self-efficacy.


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Hsiang Pan ◽  
Hung-Shih Chou ◽  
Wei-Ting Hsu ◽  
Chiung-Huang Li ◽  
Yuh-Lin Hu

The purpose in this study was to confirm the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and teaching practices in the health and physical education (HPE) curriculum in Taiwan. We used stratified random sampling and cluster sampling methods to select 842 HPE teachers from elementary schools in Taiwan. They completed the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale in HPE and the Teaching Practice Scale in HPE (Pan, 2006, 2007). Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the suitability of the hypothetical model. Results indicated that the model had acceptable goodness-of-fit and it was concluded that teachers' self-efficacy has a positive effect on teaching practices in HPE.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S764-S764
Author(s):  
Mi Sun Choi ◽  
Holly Dabelko-Schoeny ◽  
Mo Yee Lee ◽  
Alicia Bunger

Abstract Many older Americans have decided to remain in the labor market beyond the traditional retirement age, suggesting the need for companies to consider human resource initiatives to retain and support the aging workforce. Applying active aging concepts, which emphasize older adults’ active roles through participation in social and economic activities for healthy later life, to the workplace could be helpful for developing programs that enhance the health, well-being, and work outcomes of older workers. Despite the expected benefits of active aging at work for older workers’ overall well-being, little research has been conducted on what personal and team factors impact on outcomes of active aging at work; what mechanism exists in the links between factors and outcomes in the contemporary workplace. The current study tested the validity of an active aging framework using the Age and Generations Study data. We analyzed responses of 508 American workers aged 50 and older using structural equation modeling. Results showed that perceived self-efficacy was a strong predictor of engagement, mental health, and performance, whereas perceived leader equity predicted only engagement. Also, work engagement was powerful mechanism for promoting older adults’ mental health; engagement mediated the relationship between perceived self-efficacy and the relationship between leader equity and mental health. The findings highlight how important it is for employers to invest in human capital, suggesting human resource programs should focus on strategies that target older adults’ engagement through tailored self-efficacy programs and diversity leadership training programs. Such attempts would contribute to the well-being of older workers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (16) ◽  
pp. 2745-2753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Kendler ◽  
Charles O. Gardner ◽  
Michael C. Neale ◽  
Steve Aggen ◽  
Andrew Heath ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundVulnerability to depression can be measured in different ways. We here examine how genetic risk factors are inter-related for lifetime major depression (MD), self-report current depressive symptoms and the personality trait Neuroticism.MethodWe obtained data from three population-based adult twin samples (Virginia n = 4672, Australia #1 n = 3598 and Australia #2 n = 1878) to which we fitted a common factor model where risk for ‘broadly defined depression’ was indexed by (i) lifetime MD assessed at personal interview, (ii) depressive symptoms, and (iii) neuroticism. We examined the proportion of genetic risk for MD deriving from the common factor v. specific to MD in each sample and then analyzed them jointly. Structural equation modeling was conducted in Mx.ResultsThe best fit models in all samples included additive genetic and unique environmental effects. The proportion of genetic effects unique to lifetime MD and not shared with the broad depression common factor in the three samples were estimated as 77, 61, and 65%, respectively. A cross-sample mega-analysis model fit well and estimated that 65% of the genetic risk for MD was unique.ConclusionA large proportion of genetic risk factors for lifetime MD was not, in the samples studied, captured by a common factor for broadly defined depression utilizing MD and self-report measures of current depressive symptoms and Neuroticism. The genetic substrate for MD may reflect neurobiological processes underlying the episodic nature of its cognitive, motor and neurovegetative manifestations, which are not well indexed by current depressive symptom and neuroticism.


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