Q-study of the perceptions of leisure shared by young married individuals with no children

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this Q-study was to describe the perceptions of leisure shared with a spouse by young newly married individuals with no children. The first phase of the study consisted of interviews with five married individuals who were between the ages of 18-35 years old, had been married less than 5 years and had no children. The second phase consisted of 14 married individuals who meet the above criteria. Only one person per couple was allowed to participate in the study. Each of the 14 subjects completed two sorts each, one about what each perceived shared leisure with his/her spouse was like and a second sort was about what each of them thought his or her spouse's perception of leisure shared was like with them. The data were analyzed using PQMethod 2.11, a program adapted from the Q-method FORTRAN program for statistical analysis of Q-sort data. The Q-sort data was correlated, factor analyzed and rotated for the best possible solution. A three factor solution was accepted and used in this study. The tScope and Method of Study: The purpose of this Q-study was to describe the perceptions of leisure shared with a spouse by young newly married individuals with no children. The first phase of the study consisted of interviews with five married individuals who were between the ages of 18-35 years old, had been married less than 5 years and had no children. The second phase consisted of 14 married individuals who meet the above criteria. Only one person per couple was allowed to participate in the study. Each of the 14 subjects completed two sorts each, one about what each perceived shared leisure with his/her spouse was like and a second sort was about what each of them thought his or her spouse's perception of leisure shared was like with them. The data were analyzed using PQMethod 2.11, a program adapted from the Q-method FORTRAN program for statistical analysis of Q-sort data. The Q-sort data was correlated, factor analyzed and rotated for the best possible solution.

Findings and Conclusions: A three factor solution was accepted and used in this study. The three factor solution accounted for 55% of the variance, where five of the twenty eight sorts did not define any factor, but were found to be split or non-significant. The factors were interpreted as the following factors The Believers, The Hopefuls, and The Connected. The three factors represented three different points of view. The commonalities across all the factors included shared leisure with a spouse as being more free than leisure experienced by oneself, an opportunity to increase communication, added an element of cohesion, was not a stressful event, and allows them to be creative and discover themselves as a couple. The results of the study do suggest that shared leisure and individual leisure are conceptually different. The results in this study do not allow for a complete definition of shared leisure; however, it does provide a foundation for future exploration of the difference between individual leisure and the concept of shared leisure.