Organized leisure activities and subjective well-being among children in Norway

The findings of this study contribute to the knowledge base for public health work targeting children`s well-being, particularly within the context of organized leisure activities.

Background
Research indicates that participation in organized leisure activities may benefit children`s well-being. However, this may depend on personal and social experiences within these arenas. According to the Self-determination theory (SDT), experiences of autonomy, mastery, and relatedness are particularly important for experiencing well-being. We aimed to investigate: 1) differences in subjective well-being between children who do and children who do not participate in organized leisure activities, and whether any association depend on participation frequency; 2) to what extent the children who participate in organized leisure activities experience autonomy, mastery, and relatedness within these arenas, and whether this depends on frequency of participation; and 3) the association between overall experiences of autonomy, mastery, and relatedness in the organized activities and subjective well-being.

Methods
We used cross-sectional survey data from the first wave of the longitudinal Ungdata pluss study, including children aged 10-13 years in Vestfold and Telemark county, Norway (n=4765-5776). Variables included were Subjective well-being, Participation in organized leisure activities, Frequency of participation, Perceived autonomy, Perceived mastery, and Perceived relatedness related to these activities, Gender, Age, and Socio-economic status. We conducted t-tests, Anova-tests, and multivariate linear regression analyses.

Results
Reported subjective well-being was significantly higher among children who participated in organized leisure activities compared to those who did not (7.8 vs. 7.3, scale 0-10). Subjective well-being also increased with frequency of participation. The children who participated in organized leisure activities scored relatively high on five of the six variables assessing experiences of autonomy, mastery, and relatedness related to the activities (over 4.0, scale 1-5). They scored more moderate on the variable measuring perceptions of being involved in decisions about what to do in the activities (3.2, scale 1-5). For the same five out of six measures of experiences within the activities, we found a pattern of higher scores with higher participation frequency. We also found a significant positive association between overall experience of autonomy, mastery, and relatedness within organized leisure activities and subjective well-being (b=1.1).

Conclusions
Findings support previous research which shows that children`s participation in organized leisure activities benefit upon their subjective well-being. However, findings also highlight that this association depends on the degree to which children experience autonomy, mastery, and relatedness within the leisure arenas.