Is there a relationship between adolescents' hobbies and idol preferences?

Abstract

This paper is based on the concept of positive youth development and the formative role of leisure activities on identity formation and youngsters’ growth. The aim is to investigate if there is a relationship between adolescents’ hobbies and role models important for particular interests’ appearance but also for cognitive and social development. Students (N=1404 from primary and secondary school) estimated, in a form of questionnaire, how often in their leisure time they are engaged in 9 hobbies (e.g. blog writing; drawing/painting; graphic design; computer programming). They also answered the name of the public person they admire and why. Those answers are classified into 6 idol types within different domains: show business; sport; politics; science and art; entrepreneurship and fiction. This research has revealed the relationship showing that students practicing hobbies differ from those who do not regarding idol preferences. The most salient finding shows that adolescents admiring sportsmen do not incline to hobby practicing. Adolescents who take up hobbies prefer idols from show business, science/art and politics. Besides there are differences in number of hobbies regarding idol type preferences and differences in idol type preferences regarding how often adolescents practice hobbies.