Authors

• National Sports Council
• State Youth Council
• Finnish Youth Research Society

Keywords

adolescents, children, exercise (physical activity), harassment, hobbies, leisure time, leisure time activities, physical activities, social life, sport, well-being (health), youth

Abstract

The survey studied the leisure time activities and physical activity of Finnish children and young people aged 10-29. Both everyday physical actitivies and organised sport were included. Two questionnaires were used, one for participants aged 10-14 or and the other for participants aged 15-29. The parents of the children aged 10-14 participated in the interviews and some questions were asked from them instead of the children. The formulation of the question sometimes differed slightly between the questionnaires but a great majority of issues were covered in both.

Questions covered whether the participants had any hobbies and whether they felt they had enough leisure time. Parents' involvement in the participants' hobbies was investigated by asking whether the parents/guardians also took part in their hobbies (e.g. by taking them to practice, acting as a coach) and if so, how often. Participation in organized leisure time groups (e.g. sports teams, scouts, youth groups), leisure time activities other than sports, and monthly expenses associated with physical activities were surveyed. Two questions focused on the amount of screen time. Screen time was defined to include television, computers and mobile devices (e.g. smart phones) use.

Physical activity was charted by asking how often the participants exercised in their leisure time at least 60 minutes a day, time spent doing vigorous exercise, whether they would like to exercise more or take part in a certain kind of exercise, whether they took part in any organised sports and how often. Reasons for exercising and not exercising were also investigated. Questions covered whether the participants mainly exercised alone or with friends, and whether their physical activity consisted mainly of sports training and competitions or everyday physical activities and how desirable certain aspects of physical activities were (e.g. ease of access, affordability, brings friends, high-quality coaching).

Experiences of bullying, discrimination or inappropriate behaviour during organised sports were investigated. The participants were also asked to what degree different individuals (e.g. parents/guardians, teachers, friends, coaches) had encouraged them to engage in physical activity. They were asked to evaluate their satisfaction in different areas of their lives. These areas included overall leisure time, personal relationships, health, physical fitness, appearance, financial situation, and life in general.

Background variables included the child's and responding parent's mother tongue, gender, age group, type of neighbourhood, degree of urbanisation, region of residence, financial situation, household composition, number of household members, and whether they identified as a member of a minority and if yes, which minority. For those aged 15-29, further background variables included the type of educational institution currently attended, economic activity, the highest education level attained, and the highest education level attained by the R's mother or other female guardian.