Adolescents’ Well-Being and Typical Patterns of Their Leisure Time Behaviors

Abstract

How adolescents spend their leisure time has proven to be important for their well-being. The aim of this work was to determine if there are connections between certain patterns of leisure time behaviors and specific aspects of well-being. The sample included 1358 secondary school students. Seven leisure time patterns were extracted and latent variables interpreted as an orientation towards Pop Culture, Culture/Art/Music, Films/TV-Shows/Internet, Science/ Politics, Information Technologies, Going Out, and Sports. Well-being scales include the following five aspects: Engagement (E), Perseverance (P), Optimism (O), Connectedness (C), and Happiness (H). Although small, significant positive correlations were found between Pop Culture and P, O, C, H; b) Culture/Art/Music and E; c) Films/TV-Shows/Internet and E; d) Science/Politics and P, O; e) IT and E, P; f) Going Out and O, C, H; g) Sports and E, P, O, H. Pop Culture, Going Out, and Sports contributed most to the total well-being variance and might be proven overall beneficial. Orientations towards science, politics, and IT are considered more serious activities that require perseverance over time. Only for perusing Culture/Art/Music negative correlations were found, indicating lower degrees of connectedness and happiness. In conclusion, certain leisure time behavior patterns are related to different aspects of adolescents’ well-being.