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Leisure for youth in residential care: an important context for intervention
Author(s) -
Säfvenbom Reidar,
Sandahl D.M.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2397.00117
Subject(s) - respondent , intervention (counseling) , agency (philosophy) , welfare , context (archaeology) , psychology , leisure time , sample (material) , social psychology , institution , gerontology , developmental psychology , sociology , medicine , physical activity , political science , psychiatry , geography , social science , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , law , physical medicine and rehabilitation
Compared with non‐institutionalized youth, adolescents under the protection of a social welfare agency have somewhat differing patterns of free‐time activity. However, little is known about the contexts in which meaningful free time activity occurs. Data on this topic were collected from a sample of adolescents (n = 20) under the care of the Child Welfare Organization (Oslo, Norway) and a comparison group of non‐institutionalized adolescents (n = 27) from neighboring schools. The Experience Sampling Method was used to collect data on 1220 situations sampled during after‐school hours, with particular attention given to the nature of the activity, social group, and location. The dependent variable was the respondent’s desire to do that activity more or less often. Compared to the reference group, adolescents in the youth protection group were significantly more likely to say they wanted more self‐involving activities and found this type of engagement within the privacy of their institution rather than in public arenas. These results are discussed in relation to the potential for intervention to enhance the leisure opportunities of institutionalized youth.