As part of the ongoing process of concept refinement in leisure constraints research, this article addresses the issue of the internal homogeneity of constrained leisure, first examined by Jackson and Dunn (1991). Comparisons are made of responses by the members of a single sample to virtually identical scales of items related to reasons for ceasing participation in a former activity and barriers to initiating participation in a new one. There was a general trend of similarity in the absolute and relative importance of the constraints associated with these two aspects of constrained leisure among a sample of Canadian junior high and high school students. However, the finding that several items were exceptions to the overall pattern provides further support for Jackson and Dunn's conclusion that constrained leisure is not an internally homogeneous concept.

Building upon Walker, Jackson, and Deng's (2007) article on culture and constraints, this study explores how the self-construals of Canadian university students in Canada and Chinese students in Mainland China influence their perception of how intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints affect starting a new leisure activity. English and simplified Chinese language questionnaires, distributed onsite, resulted in useable data from 227 Canadian and 216 Mainland Chinese participants. Statistical analyses suggested that Canadian and Chinese students had different types of self-construal and, consequently, were constrained differently.

This study extends previous research on leisure constraints by developing a new, theory-based, inventory of intrapersonal leisure constraints items using the theory of planned behavior and self-determination theory as guiding frameworks, and then using the inventory to assess the cross-cultural validity of the hierarchical model of leisure constraints (Crawford, Jackson, & Godbey, 1991). These objectives are accomplished by comparing how perceptions of 10 intrapersonal constraints items and perceptions of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints affect starting a new leisure activity among university students in Canada and in Mainland China. English- and simplified Chinese-language questionnaires yielded useable data from 227 Canadian and 216 Mainland Chinese participants. Nine of 10 intrapersonal constraints items differed significantly, with Chinese students being more intrapersonally constrained than Canadians in all but one instance. A single combined measure of intrapersonal constraints was compared with similar indices for interpersonal and structural constraints. All three constraints categories differed significantly: Chinese students were more intra- and interpersonally constrained, while Canadian students were more structurally constrained. Despite these cultural differences, support for the hierarchical leisure constraints model was found in the data for both Chinese and Canadian students, indicating the general applicability of this framework across two cultures.

Participation in sport tourism is characterized by constraints. It is constrained by spatial barriers such as travel distance and physical barriers such as fitness, along with a broad range of other factors that have yet to be systematically considered. Leisure constraint theory provides a strong foundation from which to gain insight into this dimension of sport tourism. The merits of using this approach are articulated in this essay by first highlighting the existence of constraints in sport-related travel. Next, key developments in leisure constraint theory such as the introduction of the ideas of negotiation and a hierarchical order of constraint factors are presented. The most recent developments in modelling constraints are then described and considered in the realm of sport tourism in general. Finally, to illustrate the merit of leisure constraints models in a specific sport tourism context, downhill skiing is used as an exemplar.

The purpose of this article is to identify key characteristics of the community of leisure scholars in North America and to use patterns derived from data about publication activity as a platform for discussing the nature and implications of concentration in leisure research at the individual and institutional levels. The study uses cluster analysis to detect patterns of research and publication activity among 1785 people who were associated with leisure research in North America in the 1990s, concentrating on the slightly smaller number of people (1631) whose names were listed as authors on at least one publication in all editions of 6 research journals and 14 conference proceedings from 1990 to 1999 inclusive. The results demonstrate that leisure research in North America is concentrated at both the individual scholar and institutional levels. For example, at the individual level, less than one-fifth of authors accounted for more than two-thirds of journal articles and conference papers. The implications of these findings are discussed with reference to issues such as the critical mass of scholars and problems of disciplinary isolation detected by previous researchers.

IntroductionThe conventions of writing an academic, empirical article for a research journal such as the Journal of Research usually dictate a rigidly-defined content that follows a pre-determined structure. The normal Background section, for example, typically consists of a review of the literature most closely related to the study, and-if it is done well-identifies not only what is known about the subject-matter of the study, but also what is not known. These gaps in knowledge are then used to identify the study's objectives and to provide the foundation for a subsequent discussion of how the study has contributed to knowledge (see Kelly, 1999, p. 148, for advice that all writers of such articles should heed!).Given the relative freedom of how to position reply to four commentaries on my Leisure research by Canadians and Americans: One community or two solitudes article, have chosen to begin with a personal statement and not with an academic/literature background. This should not only clarify the purpose of the article that the four commentators and are discussing, and the objectives of the larger study of which it is a part, but it should also provide the foundation for a more generally-oriented response to the comments from colleagues, as well as to point to directions and questions that could profitably be addressed in the future. believe that these are issues that members of the North American studies community ought to be concerned about.After had read the four commentaries on my article by Susan Shaw, Diane Samdahl, Don Dawson, and Peter Witt, my first inclination was to decline to write a reply. This was not because felt the commentators' critiques were indefensible. On the contrary, thought that a simple and straightforward, I agree with everything you say; thank you for taking the time to do this would suffice. However, as began to reflect on my colleagues' remarks, and realizing that, rather than writing detailed critical reviews, they had instead chosen to use my article as a springboard to raise issues that were only implied by my data and conclusions, decided to respond in kind. In preparing early drafts of reply, also found myself reflecting on how came to be involved in recreation and studies, and how the concerns that have arose out of observations have made over the years of my involvement. Thus, intend to use reply not only as an opportunity to comment on and extend my colleagues' thoughts, but also to voice some concerns about studies in general that were part of my motivation for initiating the research project in the first place, even if they were not directly addressed in the original article.Why Began The StudyA Personal BackgroundAs an academic trained in urban, behavioural, and historical geography, it was never my original intention to become a leisure researcher, either within the sub-discipline of recreation geography or more broadly within the interdisciplinary field of recreation and studies. In fact my initial involvement occurred purely by chance: although hired to teach courses on environmental impacts and resource management, was asked, immediately upon my arrival as a junior assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Alberta in 1975, to supervise a graduate recreation-related thesis, which ultimately produced my first recreation research publication (Foster & Jackson, 1979). Then, was asked to offer a graduate seminar course-Geography of Outdoor Recreation-previously taught by a senior colleague who had moved on to other interests.As am sure is the case for many colleagues in the field, my subsequent involvement in studies, and the directions it has taken, have also occurred more by chance than by design. became interested in outdoor recreation and environmental attitudes, for example, both as an extension of some work was doing in the late 1970s and early 1980s on environmental attitudes and energy conservation, and as a result of casually browsing journals and discovering the few articles that had been published on outdoor recreation and environmental attitudes up to that time. …

Recent empirical reviews of published research in North American leisure studies have argued that the field is intellectually and geographically isolated. The present article examines this contention by identifying similarities and differences in patterns of research dissemination between Canadian and American leisure researchers, with a view to investigating whether the two communities are distinct entities or part of an integrated and international community. The data were derived from a comprehensive record of refereed publication activity in leisure research journals and conference proceedings. From the standpoint of overall activities and productivity, Canadians and Americans were essentially the same, a conclusion substantiated in patterns of data related to general indicators of the level, timing, and longevity of research and publication activity. However, with respect to preferences for publishing articles in specific journals or presenting papers at specific conferences, Canadians and Americans diverged sharply: the majority tended to favor research dissemination in their own country's outlets. The results suggest that there are indeed "two solitudes" in North American leisure studies, at least among the majority of the community and in particular among Americans, less so among Canadians.

Careers are increasingly characterized by multiple jobs and employers, and thus the issue of transitions between career components and through career stages is of greater importance than in the past. Transitions have also been extensively studied in the context of “serious leisure.” This paper uses findings from the literature on serious leisure and leisure constraints to develop propositions about the role of transitions in work careers and the effects that constraints have on transitions.

As part of an ongoing process of empirical assessment of leisure studies, the study explores the structure and boundaries of the North American leisure research community by examining data for participation in the Leisure Research Symposium and the Canadian Congress on Leisure Research in the 1990s. The analysis provides information about the characteristics of groups of participants in each conference, as well as similarities and differences in patterns of participation in the two conferences. Issues addressed include: subgroups of participants demarcated by levels, longevity, and timing of activity; the extent to which Canadian and American leisure scholars are part of a single, integrated North American leisure research community; and the size of the research community. The study shows that leisure research exhibits a high degree of concentration at both the institutional and individual levels. Résumé Dans le cadre d'une évaluation empirique continue des études en loisirs, le présent ouvrage examine la structure et les limites du milieu de recherche nord‐américain dans le domaine des loisirs et présente une analyse les données concernant la participation au Symposium de recherches sur les loisirs et au Congrès canadien de recherches en loisirs dans les années 1990. L'analyse comprend des données sur les caractéristiques des groupes participant à chaque conférence et montre les points communs et les différences en ce qui concerne les habitudes de participation aux deux événements. Les questions abordées incluent, notamment : une analyse des sous‐groupes de participants selon le niveau de participation, la durée de participation et la synchronisation des activités; une analyse ontrant jusqu'à quel degré les chercheurs en loisirs canadiens et américains s'intègrent dans un seul milieu de recherche nord‐américain; et un portrait de la taille de ce milieu de recherche. L'étude révèle que les recherches en loisirs sont hautement concentrées, tant dans le secteur universitaire que dans le secteur privé. Keywords: Leisure researchLeisure studiesLeisure Research SymposiumCanadian Congress on Leisure ResearchMots clefs: recherches en loisirsétudes en loisirsSymposium de recherches sur les loisirsCongrès canadien de recherches en loisirs

The purpose of this article is to address some of the issues raised by Samdahl and Jekubovich (1997) in their critique of leisure constraints research. I suggest that the authors have based their criticism on a rather narrow and outdated conception of leisure constraints, that the concept of constraints is not an artificial construct, and that the new data and interpretations put forward by Samdahl and Jekubovich are better viewed as potentially important refinements to thinking about constraints to leisure rather than as grounds for abandoning constraints research.

The purposes of this study were to extend previous constraints research by determining what constraints limited people's use of public parks in an urban environment, how willing people would be to visit parks given various changes in park operations and programming, and whether these patterns were functions of the separate or interactive effects of age and gender. Data from a survey of nonusers of public parks in Greater Cleveland revealed that the most intense and widespread category of constraints related to the availability of time, and that improved programming and promotion received the most widespread support as types of strategies to encourage park use in the future. Older women were found to be particularly constrained by safety issues, lack of companionship, and poor health. The analyses also revealed that perceived constraints and willingness to visit parks given certain changes were more a function of the separate rather than interactive effects of age and gender.

Using data derived from two provincewide surveys of the general public of Alberta, Canada, two empirical questions were addressed: (a) What constraints to leisure do women and men experience, and (b) how does the context of personal and situational circumstances (e.g., age, income, and family structure) filter the effects of constraints among women and men? Several differences emerged between women and men in terms of the intensity and nature of the constraints, lending to the conclusion that women are overall more constrained in their leisure than men. The data also demonstrate that the experience of leisure constraints is characterized by as many within-gender differences as between-gender differences. Selected context variables related to age, income, and family structure are mediating factors that alter, reinforce, or alleviate constraints for women, depending on the nature of the context ald on rite type of constraint. The study points to the need to think in terms of diversities and pluralities rather than dualisms and universals. From theoretical gender perspectives, Mie conclude that constraints to leisure for women are a function of cultural interpretations of gender and not just biological sex.

Virtually all past leisure constraints research has been based on a conception of constraints as insurmountable obstacles to leisure participation. Thus, it has typically been assumed that if an individual encounters a constraint, the outcome will be nonparticipation. This article elaborates an alternative view of constraints that has recently begun to appear in the literature, summarized in the central proposition that leisure participation is dependent not on the absence of constraints but on negotiation through them. Such negotiation may modify participation rather than foreclosing it. Evidence from the existing literature for the negotiation proposition is examined, and five additional propositions are defined concerning relative success in negotiating constraints, interactions between different types of constraints, and balance between constraints and motivations.

The paper reports on a simultaneous analysis of activity-specific and age-based variations in constraints on leisure to investigate whether activity-based variations are attributable indirectly to age, or if age-based variations are due to simultaneous changes in the types of activities desired across the lifespan. The analysis shows that variations in constraints can be interpreted as the effect of a conjoint influence of age and preferred activities, meaning that people of different ages experience constraints that vary either in nature or intensity even if they wish to participate in the same activity. Alternatively, the array of constraints associated with a particular age-cohort is not uniform within the group, but varies in accordance with differences in the types of activities preferred by sub-groups of that cohort. The results imply that leisure researchers need to include activity-based variations when investigating antecedents of the experience of constraints, and that practitioners can take advantage of such research in the accurate targeting and marketing of leisure services to specific segments of the population.

Constraints on leisure and recreation have become the subject of wide investigation in the leisure studies literature but have received little attention from recreation geographers. However, if geographical variables such as accessibility, mobility, and the relative location of recreational facilities and resources are conceived of as constraints, it becomes fruitful for geographers to approach these issues using frameworks that have been developed elsewhere in leisure studies. A secondary analysis of data from an Alberta survey (N = 4044) is used to investigate two geographical aspects of leisure constraints: (a) perceptions of the relative importance of geographical constraints versus other types of constraints; and (b) regional variations in the unfulfilled desire to participate in a new activity, the types of activities desired, and a set of 15 constraints items. The findings show that, while they affect recreational choices, geographical constraints are less influential than other types of constraints, such as cost, lack of time, and lack of facilities. Also, notwithstanding geographical variations in some constraints categories, other factors (e.g., respondents' age) play a stronger role in shaping perceptions of constraints on leisure. In turn, these findings suggest that recreation geographers could profit by adopting an interdisciplinary approach characterized by ties with other disciplines within the field of leisure studies. Les pentes des sources du bassin de la Rivère Ganaraska dans le Sud de I'Ontario ont été reboisées après la deuxième guerre mondiale pour diminuer l'érosion du sol et les inondations en aval. Les réponses hydrologiques au changement dans l'utilisation du sol sont examinées. Entre 1945 et 1990, la couverture de la forét de Ganaraska s'est accrue de 3,3 à 8,9% par rapport à la superficie du bassin. Durant cette période, le ruissellement annuel a diminué de 100 mm et les proportions de ruissellement furent réduites. Ces changements hydrologiques dapassent ceux prédits par les relations empiriques entre les débits et la couverture forestère et ils reflètent probablement les effets combinés de l'augmentation d'interception et évapotranspiration, de I'entreposage d'eau dans les nappes aquifères en amont bassin et de pertes importantes d'eaux des sources. Le reboisement éait aussi associéà une diminution considérable des hauts deébits et à une augmentation des débits minimum journaliers annuels. Le maximum annuel des deébits spécifiques journaliers moyens a diminué de 0,36 à 0,11 m 3 s ‐1 km ‐2 (±0,10 m 3 s ‐1 km ‐2 ) entre 1946 et 1962 pendant que le minimum annuel des deébits spécifiques journaliers moyens a augmenté de 0,0037 à 0,0062 m 3 s ‐1 km ‐2 (±0,0009 m 3 s ‐ km ‐2 ) entre 1957 et 1990, tel qu'estiméà partir d'équations de régression. La réponse des proportions de ruissellements et des écoulements de points a l'augmentation de la couverture forestière était plus rapide que celle des débits minimum journaliers. Ces résultats laissent entendre que les réponses hydrologiques suite à des modifications mineures peuvent être dètectées selon l'emplacement de ces changements à l'intérieur du bassin. Les contraintes que subissent les loisirs font l'objet de vastes recherches en récréologie mais suscitent un intérêt limité chez les géographes spécialistes des loisirs. Cependant, si l'on conéoit les variables géographiques telles que l'accessibilité, la mobilité et le site relatif des centres et ressources de loisirs comme des contraintes, les géographes ont intérêt á aborder ces questions á l'aide de cadres élaborés par les sciences du loisir. Une analyse secondaire de données provenant d'une enquête effectuée en Alberta (N = 4044) a servi áétudier deux aspects géographiques de ce type de contraintes: a) les perceptions de l'importance relative des contraintes géographiques par rapport aux autres catégories de contraintes; et b) les variations régionales du désir non comblé de participer á une nouvelle activité, les types d'activités recherchées et un ensemble de 15 items de contraintes. Les résultats indiquent que, bien qu'elles aient une incidence sur les choix de loisirs, les contraintes géographiques comptent moins que les autres types de contraintes telles que les cou̧ts, le manque de temps et l'absence d'aménagements. Pareillement, mis á part les variations géographiques de certaines catégories de contraintes, d'autres facteurs (l'a̧ge des répondants, par exemple), jouent un ro̧le plus important dans la facon de percevoir les contraintes sur les loisirs. En retour, ces résultats suggèrent que les géographes spécialistes des loisirs auraient peut‐être intérêt á adopter une approche interdisciplinaire caractérisée par certains liens avec les autres disciplines existant au sein des sciences du loisir.

Using data from a questionnaire administered to the same population (Alberta, Canada) in two surveys conducted four years apart (1988 and 1992), this paper investigates three issues related to the replication of research on leisure constraints and the interpretation of temporal changes in the experience of constraints: (1) the magnitude of changes in the reporting of constraints over time; (2) the extent to which such changes are a function of differences in sample or population characteristics; and (3) stability or variability of relationships between aspects of constrained leisure and socio-economic sources of variation. The comparison showed very little temporal change in aspects of leisure constraints, measured with respect to the unfulfilled desire to start a new activity and responses to 15 constraints items. Moreover, the majority of significant differences were accounted for by differences in the age and income structures of the two samples. Also, socio-economic variations in constraints remained stable over time.

(1991). Special issue introduction: Leisure constraints/constrained leisure. Leisure Sciences: Vol. 13, Leisure Constraints/Constrained Leisure, pp. 273-278.

In the context of three alternative approaches to the meaning of leisure (activity, time, and experience), this article uses West Edmonton Mall (with its vast array of shops and unique complex of recreational facilities) as a starting point to explore four relationships between shopping and leisure. These are: independence (shopping as purchasing); shopping for leisure (the purchase of goods for use in subsequent leisure time); shopping and leisure (when shops and leisure facilities are juxtaposed in a single facility like West Edmonton Mall); and shopping as leisure (when shopping begins to take on the attributes of leisure as an experience). It is concluded that the last category offers the most interesting questions for future research.

West Edmonton Mall (wem) is an internationally known shopping mall I leisure complex comprising approximately 4 million sq. ft. of leasable retail and service space. It contains more than 600 shops, plus a hotel and leisure and recreational facilities that are unmatched in any previous shopping centre. The superimposition of a single, massive development on a pre‐existing urban structure has created both opportunities and problems for Edmonton, while the emergence of such an urban phenomenon, unprecedented in scale and character, should raise new questions and stimulate new thinking among academics. This introductory article provides a context for the articles that follow by outlining the developmental history of wem and assessing its significance as a mega‐ma/ prototype, and by identifying themes to be addressed in detail in the subsequent articles.