Leisure time represents next to the family and school an important area of socialization. In my doctoral thesis project, I addressed the question, if it is possible for young people to create new resources in their leisure time, which increase their action spaces. To capture these processes quantitatively, I developed as part of the doctoral thesis project a new measurement instrument, which captures the qualities of different leisure-time contexts as perceived by young people themselves. After a thorough pre-test phase, it was possible to insert the instrument in a quantitative panel about young people in Vienna.

Based on cross-sectional data, I showed that young people’s inner-individual resources (wellbeing, control conviction) are associated with the conditions they encounter in their leisure time (chapter). Longitudinal analyses for the outcome variable wellbeing confirmed the relationships but provided a more nuanced picture (paper). For young people it is important to spend time in leisure places that allow for correspondence, i.e., where it is possible to be oneself and relax. To a lesser extent also opportunities for experimentation are important, i.e., where it is possible to discover new aspects about oneself and engage in new activities.

Moreover, I used the data to characterize the qualities of different leisure-time contexts (paper). These analyses point towards the potential of urban/public facilities since these support young people’s capability to act in comparable ways as training, courses, and rehearsals, but are less rooted in heteronomy and obligation. Among less structured leisure time contexts, the home of friends, outdoors in nature, and to a lesser extent outdoors in the city emerged as contexts that allow young people to perceive a sense of possibility.

Supervisors: Jörg Flecker and Christoph Reinprecht

Funding: uni:docs Fellowship Programme for Doctoral Candidates by the University of Vienna