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The Role of Leisure Interest and Engagement for Subjective Well-Being

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Abstract

During the last decades, the association between leisure engagement and subjective well-being (SWB) has been examined. Yet, the role of the interest in specific leisure activities for SWB has been neglected. Thus, we examined whether the pure leisure engagement or the opportunity to realize the longing to pursue a leisure activity is linked to well-being. A sample of 402 participants completed an online survey about interests and the frequency of engagement in diverse leisure activities as well as physical, cognitive, and affective well-being. The study revealed that leisure engagement showed stronger associations with all aspects of well-being than leisure interest per se. More specifically, interest and engagement in social activities and sports showed robust associations with different facets of well-being. Furthermore, a high individual fit between leisure interest and engagement across diverse activities incrementally predicted SWB beyond leisure engagement per se. Analyses of nonlinear associations indicated that too much leisure engagement was associated with lower levels of SWB, but high interest in leisure activities buffered this effect. Thus, the intrinsic motivation to leisure activities may play an important role for well-being in addition to the sheer leisure engagement.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

      Philipp Schulz, Julian Schulte, Sven Raube, Hala Disouky & Christian Kandler

    2. Research Division, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel, Bielefeld, Germany

      Philipp Schulz & Julian Schulte

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    1. Philipp Schulz
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    2. Julian Schulte
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    Correspondence to Philipp Schulz.

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    Philipp Schulz and Julian Schulte have contributed equally to this work.

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    Schulz, P., Schulte, J., Raube, S. et al. The Role of Leisure Interest and Engagement for Subjective Well-Being. J Happiness Stud 19, 1135–1150 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-017-9863-0

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