The purpose of this study is to use the recreation specialization construct to examine the diversity of mountain bike riders in the US to meet their needs better, and to help strengthen the sport and the outdoor economy. At one end of the specialization continuum are Completely High Specialists, and at the other end are Completely Low Specialists.…

Environmental interpretation provides visitors with positive experiences in nature while managing their impacts. Existing research has concentrated on the influence of interpretive programs on visitor knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. Little empirical research exists on how visitors perceive their environment. In this research we examine the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the social benefits whitewater paddlers derive from a city whitewater park. Many communities are investing great sums of time and money in the development of whitewater parks, with the expectation that these parks will generate social benefits for park users and their surrounding communities (Moorman et…

Outdoor education in various forms has a long and rich tradition in the Czech Republic. This paper focuses on research into the benefits or return on investment of a winter travel course organised by the Department of Recreology at the Faculty of Physical Culture of Palacký University Olomouc which combines snowshoeing and camping in the snow. On…

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Plus non-conforming identities (LGBTQ+) individuals who have pursued a professional career in the outdoor recreation industry. Six stories of queer identity in the outdoors were gifted to this study, with the…

Rural youths often feel compelled to leave their home communities to seek new opportunities, especially at the secondary-postsecondary educational transition. These decisions are driven in part by perceived developmental imperatives to leave rural regions given messages that success is best achieved elsewhere. The present study used the framework…

Although in-vivo behavioral skills training (BST) is often effective, it may be too resource-intensive for organizations that rely on volunteers. Alternatives to in-vivo BST include video models or interactive computer training (ICT), but the utility of these procedures for training volunteers remains largely unknown. We used a randomized control…

"Pastimes" (7th ed.) introduces the phenomenon of leisure and reflects a wide range of material from the disciplines of leisure studies, sociology, psychology, economics, political science, history, anthropology, geography, the humanities, and media and cultural studies. This book discusses leisure from personal, societal, and systems…

The aim of the study is to compare the participation constraint for leisure activities of teachers who working In the Ministry of National Education (MNE). In order to determine the leisure time constraints leisure constraints scales (LCS) were applied to the participants. A total of 413 teachers (258 male and 155 female) working in the Ministry…

Research indicates that students are more likely to persist when they are involved in extracurricular programs such as campus recreation. Because institutional funding is predicated upon graduation rates, ascertaining persistence impact of these programs is crucial. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the…

The purpose of this study is to reveal how the academicians working in the field of recreation conceptualize their ideas about "recreation" through metaphors. Phenomenology being among the qualitative research methods was used in this study. The research population is composed of the academicians working in the field of recreation in…

The aim of this article is to analyse how a discourse on the role model operates in youth recreational work. Drawing on Michel Foucault's concepts of subjectivity, discourse and power-knowledge, the article analyses interviews with youth recreation leader students enrolled at a folk high school, and their talk about occupational choice. The…

Mountain biking is currently one of the fastest growing recreational activities in the world (Outdoor Foundation, 2013), but documenting the benefits has been challenging. The Benefits of Hiking Scale (BHS), a 38-item instrument assessing the values and benefits of using trails, has been used in national and state park trail research (Freidt,…

Demographic trends related to the baby-boomer generation suggest that the future will necessitate significant increases to the workforce serving this population. Recreational-therapy services are no exception, as this area of practice ties directly to the anticipated health-care and quality-of-life needs of this growing segment of society. The…

The history of parks and recreation is deeply rooted in child's play. From Joseph Lee's writings about the developmental benefits of child's play at the beginning of the 20th century to the establishment of the University of Illinois's Motor Performance and Play Research Laboratory in the 1960s and 1970s, child's play has been a central focus of…