- Title
- From carefree to controlled: influences on the leisure of Australian children since the 1950s
- Creator
- Fray, Leanne
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Childhood participation in organised leisure activities has increased over the past six decades. Parents in the first part of the 21st century are inundated with often contradictory messages from government, experts and media organisations regarding the leisure activities of children. They are told simultaneously that organised leisure activities are beneficial for children in terms of development and socialisation, whilst at the same time warned against the harm that the over-scheduling of children’s activities may bring. In order to understand why children take part in organised leisure activities this research examined the influences on the organised leisure of Australian children. This research explored the influences on the leisure of children from four different generations - Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z. An interpretive, broadly feminist approach investigated influences on participation in organised leisure activities of children since the 1950s. The multi method research was primarily qualitative in nature and comprised three elements: focus group interviews with 55 participants from both urban and rural areas in Queensland and New South Wales, semi-structured telephone interviews with 87 ‘young’ participants from the eastern Australian states and semi-structured telephone interviews with 80 ‘mid’ participants from eastern Australian states. All participants completed a short demographic style survey. Findings indicated that whilst similar influences were in effect across the generations, the way in which these influences manifested differed vastly. Influences were varied and included factors such as rapid and vast technological change, especially in the area of transport, a child’s locality in an urban or rural environment, along with the influence provided by educational and religious institutions, and friends and peers. Parents from all generations were an important influence on organised leisure activities. This influence varied across generations and migrated from a ‘gatekeeper’ role played by parents of Baby Boomers to the coercive role provided by the parents of Generation Z. In the late modern era, parental reactions to risk were found to be an influence on the organised leisure of Generation Z children. This influence included parents guarding against future risk, their reactions to current risk and the consequences of risk. Findings indicated that the leisure activities of children had largely shifted from being autonomous, child lead, and carefree during the childhood of Baby Boomer children to being tightly controlled, adult organised and supervised in the childhood of Generation Z children.
- Subject
- children; childhood; leisure; influences; generations; risk; gender
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/939113
- Identifier
- uon:12737
- Rights
- Copyright 2013 Leanne Fray
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
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| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Abstract | 162 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Thesis | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |