Active Leisure Activities As Related to Occupation

Abstract

Relationships between occupational groups and participation in active leisure activities were studied in 1,648 working men (age 16 to 69). An activity recall questionnaire was employed to collect the data. Subjects were placed into one of five occupational groups (professional and technical, managerial, clerical and sales, skilled and semi-skilled, or service and labor). For each of eight active leisure activities the relationship between participation in the activity and occupational group was analyzed. Little or no relationship was found between participation in active leisure activities and occupational grouping. Golf may be the only exception to this generalization. In this case a significant relationship was found at two age groups (30–39 and 40–49) and for the total of all ages. The “white collar” workers tended to be more active in this sport than the “blue collar” workers. Five other activities indicated significant relationships at one or two age ranges but no consistent trends were observed.