This paper explored the leisure experiences and behaviors of adolescents who are lesbian, gay mal... more This paper explored the leisure experiences and behaviors of adolescents who are lesbian, gay male, bisexual, or questioning their sexual identities. In addition, health related variables were also examined. Data for this study came from a self-administered questionnaire collected in the spring of 1994 from 2,756 ninth through twelfth graders from four high schools in a county located in the southeastern United States. Altogether there were 111 students (4%) who were identified as lesbian, gay male, bisexual, or questioning their sexual identities. Results from this exploratory study suggest that free time and leisure experiences are not always positive or healthy for gay males in particular. Males were more bored in their leisure, used free time to rebel, and some felt their parents had too much control over what they did in their free time. Both lesbians and gay males engaged in higher levels of binge drinking when compared to their peers.
This study utilizes discrete-time survival analysis to assess the effect of level of academic ach... more This study utilizes discrete-time survival analysis to assess the effect of level of academic achievement (both contemporaneously and prospectively) and changes in academic achievement on initiation of marijuana use among rural adolescents in junior high school. In the sample under consideration, 36% of boys and 23% of girls initiated use of marijuana by the end of ninth grade. Consistent with our hypothesis, poor academic achievement is a salient predictor of initiation of marijuana use among both boys and girls. Both contemporaneous and lagged levels of achievement significantly predict initiation. In addition, change in academic achievement is an important predictor of initiation. That is, students who demonstrate a deterioration of their academic achievement over time are more likely to start using marijuana. Poor academic achievement and deterioration of academic achievement should be considered as risk factors for initiation of marijuana use among rural adolescents. Initiatives targeted at improving academic achievement and/or drug use prevention initiatives designed for poor achieving students may help to prevent initiation of marijuana use.
This study examined how gender and perceptions of parenting related to adolescent motivation duri... more This study examined how gender and perceptions of parenting related to adolescent motivation during free-time. The sample consisted of 377 ninthgraders from high schools in eastern Massachusetts. Signifi cant gender differences were found for rules enacted, with females reporting more rules in place than males. When examining the relationship between parenting practices and motivation, differences were observed in motivation states based on the provision of specifi c parent practices by gender. Intrinsic motivation was higher for boys when they reported parents enacting more rules, while more rules undermined girls' intrinsic motivation. External motivation was lower for girls when they reported more parental involvement, while boys were unaffected by this variable. Regardless of gender, amotivation was higher when youth reported parents providing low resource support and few rules. The discussion focuses on how boys and girls respond differently to specifi c parenting practices and what this means to adult leaders working with youth.
This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of the HealthWise South Africa HIV and substance... more This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of the HealthWise South Africa HIV and substance abuse prevention program at impacting adolescents' polydrug use and sexual risk behaviors. HealthWise is a school-based intervention designed to promote social-emotional skills, increase knowledge and refusal skills relevant to substance use and sexual behaviors, and encourage healthy free time activities. Four intervention schools in one township near Cape Town, South Africa were matched to five comparison schools (N 5 4040). The sample included equal numbers of male and female participants (Mean age 5 14.0). Multiple regression was used to assess the impact of HealthWise on the outcomes of interest. Findings suggest that among virgins at baseline (beginning of eighth grade) who had sex by Wave 5 (beginning of 10th grade), HealthWise youth were less likely than comparison youth to engage in two or more risk behaviors at last sex. Additionally, HealthWise was effective at slowing the onset of frequent polydrug use among non-users at baseline and slowing the increase in this outcome among all participants. Program effects were not found for lifetime sexual activity, condomless sex refusal and pastmonth polydrug use. These findings suggest that HealthWise is a promising approach to HIV and substance abuse prevention.
There is limited understanding of parents' role in positive youth/adolescent development through ... more There is limited understanding of parents' role in positive youth/adolescent development through leisure in developing countries. Using a sample of 6626 8 th grade students in South Africa, this study examined the interrelationships among parenting practice, adolescents' leisure experience, and substance use. Results of structural equation modeling showed that parental leisure involvement was associated with less substance use, while parental leisure over-control was associated with greater substance use. The relationship of parental leisure involvement to substance use was mediated by healthy leisure engagement. The relationship of parental leisure over-control to substance use, on the other hand, was mediated by leisure boredom and healthy leisure engagement. The model path coefficients had little variation between genders and socioeconomic groups except that parental leisure over-control had a stronger positive relationship with leisure boredom for males than females. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.
Researchers often hypothesize that a causal variable, whether randomly assigned or not, has an ef... more Researchers often hypothesize that a causal variable, whether randomly assigned or not, has an effect on an outcome behavior and that this effect may vary across levels of initial risk of engaging in the outcome behavior. In this paper, we propose a method for quantifying initial risk status. We then illustrate the use of this risk-status variable as a moderator of the causal effect of leisure boredom, a non-randomized continuous variable, on cigarette smoking initiation. The data come from the HealthWise South Africa study. We define the causal effects using marginal structural models and estimate the causal effects using inverse propensity weights. Indeed, we found leisure boredom had a differential causal effect on smoking initiation across different risk statuses. The proposed method may be useful for prevention scientists evaluating causal effects that may vary across levels of initial risk.
Enhancing Human Development and Optimizing Health and Well-Being in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis
Therapeutic recreation journal, Apr 24, 2004
Enhancing Human Development and Optimizing Health and Weil-Being in Persons w. Barbara Wilhite; M... more Enhancing Human Development and Optimizing Health and Weil-Being in Persons w. Barbara Wilhite; M Jean Keller; Jan S Hodges; Linda Caldwell Therapeutic Recreation Journal; Second Quarter 2004; 38, 2; ProQuest Education Journals pg. 167 Tiikraphutic Rkcri-ation ...
Background/Objectives-This manuscript focuses on how individualized components may be embedded wi... more Background/Objectives-This manuscript focuses on how individualized components may be embedded within a universal preventive intervention (TimeWise: Taking Charge of Leisure Time) to make program delivery more effective. Leisure related variables (motivation, boredom/interest and peer and parental influence) were used to suggest ways to individualize the program. Methods-Latent Class Analysis was used to develop individualized risk and strength profiles of adolescents (N=617). Comparisons were made between a treatment and control group. Results-Four classes were identified: undifferentiated high, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation/amotivation, undifferentiated low. These classes were related to substance use. Membership in the intrinsic class was associated with intervention group while the extrinsic class was related to the control group. Conclusions and Scientific Significance-Results were useful in suggesting ways to tailor a universal prevention program.
Peer influence, substance use and leisure: a cross-cultural comparison
Sucht, 2006
Peer-Einfluss, Substanzkonsum und Freizeitverhalten: ein Kulturvergleich Fragestellung: Diese Stu... more Peer-Einfluss, Substanzkonsum und Freizeitverhalten: ein Kulturvergleich Fragestellung: Diese Studie untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen Freizeitmotivation bzw. Peerdruck und Alkoholkonsum bei Jugendlichen aus drei Kulturen. Methodik: Sekundärdaten aus Süd-Afrika, Deutschland und den USA wurden analysiert. Ergebnisse: Peer-Einfluss korreliert positiv mit Alkoholkonsum in allen drei Stichproben. In der deutschen Stichprobe steht Freizeitmotivation in einem positiven Zusammenhang mit Alkoholkonsum. Geringe intrinsische / identifizierte Motivation bei amerikanischen und geringe identifizierte Motivation bei südafrikanischen Jugendlichen stehen in einen negativen Zusammenhang mit Substanzkonsum. Schlussfolgerungen: Peerdruck steht in den drei Stichproben mit Alkoholkonsum im Jugendalter in Beziehung, wogegen verschiedene Motivationsarten Alkoholkonsum in den drei Kulturen vorhersagen.
Personally meaningful and positive leisure pursuits are powerful mechanisms for adolescent develo... more Personally meaningful and positive leisure pursuits are powerful mechanisms for adolescent development. Elements and characteristics of leisure experiences contribute directly to the development of identity, autonomy, competence, initiative, civic duty, and social connections.
This paper documents the development and first year evaluation of the TimeWise: Learning Lifelong... more This paper documents the development and first year evaluation of the TimeWise: Learning Lifelong Leisure Skills curriculum, which aims to increase positive free time use, and mitigate or prevent the initiation of substance use and abuse. The sample was comprised of 634 school youth attending nine middle schools in a rural area in eastern United States. Results from self-report data indicate that students who received the TimeWise curriculum reported being less amotivated and more motivated by identified and introjected forms of motivation. Students in TimeWise reported being better able to restructure boring situations into something more interesting; having higher levels of decision making skills, initiative, community awareness; and participating in new interests, sports, and nature-based activities.
Self-efficacy and its relationship to outdoor recreation is only recently being explored. This pa... more Self-efficacy and its relationship to outdoor recreation is only recently being explored. This paper is an attempt to identify the specific domain of leisure selfefficacy and to explore how it might be related to participation levels in outdoor recreation activities of individuals with visual impairments.
The present study examines the impact of the HealthWise South Africa prevention intervention on c... more The present study examines the impact of the HealthWise South Africa prevention intervention on condom use self-efficacy. Students from the Cape Town area were assessed at the beginning and end of each school year, beginning in the 8th grade and ending in the 11th. The intervention was delivered in 12 lessons during the 8th grade and 6 lessons during the 9th grade. Using three-level multiphase mixed-effects models, we found that HealthWise had a statistically significant positive effect on condom use self-efficacy, although effects differed for boys and girls. HealthWise had an effect during the first phase of the intervention (8th grade) for girls and during the second phase (9th grade) for boys. We speculate that the gender differences occur because the 8th grade lessons of the intervention taught skills such as discussion, decision making, and negotiation, which may be more salient to girls, and a 9th grade lesson explicitly focused on condom use within the context of sexual relationships, which may have been more salient to boys.
The Relationship of Leisure Activities and Perceived Health of College Students
Loisir et société, 1992
ABSTRACT This exploratory study examines the relationship of general health and general leisure p... more ABSTRACT This exploratory study examines the relationship of general health and general leisure participation variables, as well as overall life satisfaction, among 525 college undergraduates. Additionally, the study looks at the relationship between specific types of leisure participation and their relationship with health variables, including social, physical, and emotional health. The sample was comprised of college undergraduates from three universities. Data were analyzed using zero order correlations and regression analyses. Overall, the data suggested that participation in leisure activities among college students is beneficial from a number of perspectives. Not only is participation associated with general contentment regarding the use of free time, but specific types of leisure activities are also associated with higher levels of perceived physical, mental, and social health. The implications for these findings are discussed, and a potential need for leisure education among college students is addressed.
Can’t You See I’m Getting Bored? The Social Context as a Moderator of Adolescent Leisure Boredom and Alcohol Use
Youth & Society, Mar 17, 2022
The current study sought to better understand how leisure boredom is associated with alcohol use ... more The current study sought to better understand how leisure boredom is associated with alcohol use and how peer factors moderated the relationship between state and trait leisure boredom and past month alcohol use. The 2004 to 2008 multi-cohort study sample included 3,837 high school students (50% female; 91% mixed race; Mage = 14 years; SD = .83) in the Cape Town area of South Africa. Results of generalized multilevel models found peer factors (time spent with peers, injunctive friend norms, descriptive peer norms) and trait, but not state, leisure boredom significantly predicted past month alcohol use. Findings can inform alcohol prevention efforts and suggest both peer factors and trait leisure boredom are worthy targets for intervention. Specifically, supporting adolescents to effectively navigate experiences of leisure boredom may, in turn, reduce alcohol use.
This study examined whether a leisure-focused intervention, HealthWise, was related to reduced yo... more This study examined whether a leisure-focused intervention, HealthWise, was related to reduced youth polysubstance use and delayed sexual debut via reducing how often youth did leisure activities because there was nothing else to do. HealthWise was compared to a nointervention control for 5,610 high school students from eighth to tenth grades in townships near Cape Town, South Africa. Three specific leisure activities were examined: spending time with friends, playing sports, and going to parks. Among girls, spending time with friends because there was nothing else to do significantly mediated the effect of HealthWise on reducing frequent polysubstance use in the past month. For boys, spending time in parks because there was nothing else to do mediated the effect of HealthWise on delayed sexual debut. Results partially supported the HealthWise logic model of impacting risky behaviors via leisure and the value of prevention programs addressing the reasons behind leisure choices.
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Papers by Linda Caldwell