Positive Leisure Science: From Subjective Experience to Social Contexts

ISBN-13: 9789400750579 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 232 str.

Teresa Freire

Opis

The book will integrate different approaches on leisure research, from individual and subjective experiences to social contexts. The main general aim is to show, based on scientific research, that leisure can be an experience, activity or context that improves human strengths and resources contributing to the well being of individuals and societies. We want a book aimed to show scientific research on this particular domain - leisure - being presented topics directly or indirectly related to this positive leisure science. Although based on different topics (populations and even methodologies), all chapters should have a common purpose making them related to this common thematic and scientific goal, which is by itself expressed the aim of this book. We would like to have a collection of articulated chapters concerning aims and contents of the book and not only a collection of independent contributions. Since the 80's and 90's positive approaches have emerged in the study of human functioning. In Psychology, in particular, this movement has increased in academic as well as in applied settings, showing its relevance in a variety of human and social domains focused in the improvement of individuals and societies, throughout everyday life. In the present moment different researchers in different scientific domains are investigating new variables (from individuals and/or contexts) that can contribute to a worthy life. Leisure is one of the most ancient issues with recognized positive impact in the life of individuals and societies. As a state of mind or as a state of societal structures, leisure can be considered a complex scientific laboratory where a complex range of variables are of scientific interest in order to understand human behavior and its relations with life contexts. Leisure can be a lab for studying different populations, life contexts, using different methodologies and measures to collect data. As an applied field, it is possible to study a great range of variables about human behavior. Within this purpose we want this book covers a wide range of topics, reflecting all the current and relevant issues that are emerging throughout scientific fields focused on human research. Although this recognized positive role of leisure in human life, scientific research focused on this positivity of leisure is not yet enough developed or intentionality published. Several scientific meetings (at least in Psychology domain) have been held with a strong evidence on the diversity of topics, but where leisure is not yet one of the main research lines being considered in the definition of a positive science. This justifies our main title: "Positive leisure science." Thus, this book will try to do this first step of integrating different and honored contributions from researchers that are trying to produce knowledge about optimizing socio-cognitive processes and behaviors, places and contexts, societies and cultures. This justifies our subtitle about leisure science: "From individual experience to social contexts." We want to produce scientific knowledge about everyday life, because it is in daily life, within the interactions between individuals and their contexts and environments that individual experiences or life trajectories are structured and social goals and purposes are defined. Positive life trajectories require these interactions and to know how to maximize them, in order to enhance resources and strengths, is one of the scientific goals associated to the study of leisure.

Spis treści

Preface; Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.- Introduction; Teresa Freire.- PART I. LEISURE AND POSITIVE LIVING.- Chapter 1. Research and Theory on Positiveness in the Social Sciences - The central role of leisure; Robert A. Stebbins.- Chapter 2. Redeeming leisure in later life; Douglas A. Kleiber.- PART II. LEISURE, GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.- Chapter 3. Adolescent Leisure from a Prevention Perspective; Linda L. Caldwell.- Chapter 4. Leisure experience and positive identity development;
Teresa Freire.- Chapter 5. Positive leisure science: leisure in family contexts; Ramon Zabriskie and Tess Kay.- Chapter 6. Leisure, optimal experience and psychological selection: Cultural and developmental perspectives; Marta Bassi and Antonella Delle Fave.- PART III. LEISURE, WELL-BEING AND QUALITY OF LIFE.- Chapter 7. Facilitating change through leisure: the leisure and well-being model of the therapeutic recreation practice; Colleen D. Hood and Cynthia P. Carruthers.- Chapter 8. Flow and leisure; Kim Perkins and Jean Nakamura.- Chapter 9. Physical activity, leisure time and health; Jorge Mota, Mauro Barros, José Carlos Ribeiro and Maria Paula Santos.- Chapter 10. Bringing Leisure in: the benefits and importance of leisure to non-resident fatherhood and parent-child contact; John M. Jenkins.- Chapter 11. Happiness through leisure;
Jeroen Nawijin & Ruut Venhoven. PART IV. LEISURE AND THE PURSUIT OF A POSITIVE LEISURE SCIENCE (PLS).- Chapter 12. Afterthoughts and future research directions on leisure; Teresa Freire and Linda Caldwell.-

O autorze

Teresa Freire (PhD) is assistant professor at the School of Psychology in the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, and Director of the Psychological Counselling Service (ServPsi) of the School of Psychology.

She teaches in graduation, master and doctoral Psychology courses and supervises several master and PhD research projects, leading the research group for the study of optimal functioning (Grupo de Investigação para o Funcionamento Óptimo – GIFOp) aimed at studying the quality of subjective experience in daily life through the lens of positive psychology, in clinical and social psychological domains.

Based on her research findings, she has developed and supervised individual and group intervention programs, with children and adolescents. Leisure experience, and its implications to positive development of adolescents, has been one of her major research topics.

Teresa Freire also collaborates in international research teams and is author of national and international publications (peer-reviewed journals and books). She belongs to the European Network for Positive Psychology (ENPP), being member of the Management Board Committee and country representative for Portugal. She is the president of the Portuguese Society of Positive Psychology (Sociedade Portuguesa de Psicologia Positiva – SPPP).

Blurb

This book extends positive psychology by embedding leisure into the positive science field, following a new paradigm and aggregating various domains and fields. Positive science can be applied to the field of leisure and, in turn, leisure can serve as an arena to study some of the most important optimal functioning variables. The book presents knowledge on a diverse range of topics about optimizing socio-cognitive processes and behaviors, places and contexts, societies and cultures through leisure. These topics are unified by an underlying continuum that extends from individuals and subjective experiences to social worlds. The contributions highlight components of everyday life, showing that subjective experience and life trajectories are structured and social goals and life purposes are defined and achieved within interactions between individuals and their lived contexts and environments in daily life.