An Empirical Study On Leisure Behaviors Of The Rural Residents In North-east China

In the past 30 years, with the further reform and opening-up of China and the development of the market economy, great changes have taken place in life of the rural residents in China, which can be reflected in their occupational structure, industrial structure, tillage practice, working environment, and life style, etc. The changes reveal a paradigmatic trend of development and present the complexity and variability of rural China as well. Nowadays, the social development of rural China is accelerating, extending, and deepening, and the residents'lifestyles exhibit multi-dimensional variations at the same time. In such a macro-background, from late 1990s, some Chinese scholars have conducted a succession of studies on the consumption patterns and the lifestyles of the urban and rural residents. However, among the social studies targeting at rural community, many focus on its economy and few on its society, more on policies and fewer on life, more from the economic and production perspectives of the residents and fewer from leisure life patterns of the residents. Up to now, there is not a single social study that gives its focus on the leisure life of the rural residents, not to say, has a systematic, comprehensive, and integrative study on their leisure time, leisure activity structure, leisure attitude, and leisure consume and behavior patterns. No study holds discussion from the perspective of the whole process of the residents'leisure life, from leisure evaluation, leisure participation, leisure involvement, leisure constraints to leisure satisfaction. To provide fairly comprehensive answers to questions concerning leisure life of Chinese rural residents, the author, in this dissertation, has had an in-depth exploration to the leisure behaviors of the rural residents, covering leisure evaluation, leisure participation, leisure involvement, leisure constrains, leisure satisfaction and subjective well-being, and the influence of their leisure behaviors on their leisure satisfaction and subjective well-being. The study will give relevant support to the theoretical foundation of leisure studies on rural China and will offer rational guidance for rural residents to conduct their leisure life.Based on the literature review, the author conducted an empirical study on leisure behaviors of the rural residents in north-east China. A conceptual model was proposed as to the correlation between leisure behaviors and leisure satisfaction and subjective well-being. A survey questionnaire was delivered to 3,000 rural residents from 600 villages in the three north-east provinces. Standard scientific empirical research method is employed in data analysis to verify the conceptual model. The study followed three investigation procedures:1. Pilot study:The author conducted a pilot study by using convenience samples from 4 villages, covering both economic developed and undeveloped regions at the suburbs of Dalian, Liaoning province. This was to clarify the relations between latent variables in the conceptual model, to determine the adaptability of the survey questionnaire and the reliability and validity of the measure scales, and to ascertain the hypothesis the author needs to verify in the confirmed study.2. Confirmed study:Results learned from the pilot study can not be proved universal, because the convenient samples lack representativeness and the study was simply conducted in the suburbs of an economic developed city. As a result, the author collected more samples in about 40 villages in Liaoning province by systematic sampling. This was to verify the results obtained from the pilot study and to adjust the adaptability of the measurement scales before they are finally used.3. Applied study:In order to prove that the study results are universally applicable, an applied study was implemented in 600 villages in the three north-east provinces. In this study,600 college undergraduates whose families live in rural villages were selected, and each student was responsible for helping conduct 5 face-to-face questionnaire surveys.Results from the data analysis indicate:(1)On the concept formation of leisure evaluation, variables in subjects'background, such as gender, age, marital status, education, family structure, work experience, and financial situation, do contribute to differences in cognitive leisure evaluation among rural residents in the north-east China. Gender, marital status, education, family structure and financial situation contribute to differences in affective leisure evaluation among rural residents in the north-east China. Gender, marital status, education, work experience and financial situation contribute to differences in behavioral leisure evaluation among rural residents in the north-east China.(2) On the concept formation of leisure participation, gender, age, marital status, education, family structure, work experience, and financial situation in subjects' background bring differences in leisure participation among rural residents in the north-east China.(3) On the concept formation of leisure involvement, gender, age, marital status, education, family structure, work experience, and financial situation in subjects' background cause differences in leisure involvement attraction among rural residents in the north-east China. Age, marital status, education, family structure, and financial situation cause differences in leisure involvement centrality among rural residents in the north-east China.(4) On the concept formation of leisure constraints, gender and family structure in subjects' background result in differences in intrapersonal constraints among rural residents in the north-east China. Education and financial situation result in difference in interpersonal constraints among rural residents in the north-east China. Gender, age, marital status, and family structure result in structural constraints among rural residents in the north-east China.(5) On the concept formation of leisure satisfaction, all variables work leading to difference in satisfaction from the educational perspective among rural residents in the north-east China. Age, marital status, education, family structure, and financial situation lead to differences in satisfaction from the psychological perspective among rural residents in the north-east China. Education, family structure, and financial situation lead to differences in satisfaction from the social perspective among rural residents in the north-east China. Gender, marital status, education, family structure, and work experience lead to differences in satisfaction from the relxational perspective among rural residents in the north-east China. Gender, age, marital status, education, family structure, and financial situation lead to differences in satisfaction from the physiological perspective among rural residents in the north-east China.(6) On the concept formation of subjective well-being, gender, age, marital status, education, family structure, and financial situation bring differences in the overall satisfaction with life among rural residents in the north-east China. Gender, marital status, education, family structure, and financial situation bring differences in positive affect, while age, marital status, education, family structure, and financial situation bring differences in negative affect among rural residents in the north-east China.(7) Leisure constraints have direct effects on leisure evaluation and leisure participation of the rural residents. However, leisure constraints show no significant effect on leisure evaluation on p=0.05 among subject group aging from 36-45 and over 61 and subject group of primary school graduates in education. Also, leisure constraints show no significant effect on leisure participation on p=0.05 among subject group financially well-being and subject group in step family.(8) Leisure evaluation directly affects leisure participation, leisure involvement, and leisure satisfaction. However, leisure evaluation shows less effect on leisure participation with subject group in husband-wife families and financially well-being families. Leisure evaluation shows no significant effect on leisure participation with financially poor rural residents.(9) As to the influence of leisure participation on leisure involvement and leisure satisfaction, most of the samples reveal direct effects. However, leisure participation has no significant effect on leisure involvement in subject groups aging 18-25 and over 61, subject group of primary school graduates and college graduates and above in education, subject group with half-year or over-2-year work experience, female subject group, unmarried subject group, and financially well-being subject group. Leisure participation shows a negative effect on leisure satisfaction in subject groups aging 36-45 and subject group financially poor, which indicates that leisure satisfaction affects leisure participation in these groups. Leisure participation shows no significant effects on leisure satisfaction in subject group aging over 61, subject group of primary school graduates and below and junior middle school graduates in education, subject group in nuclear family and stem family, female subject group, married subject group, and financially well-being subject group. Study results also reveal that in terms of work experience, leisure participation and leisure satisfaction do not interact as hypothesized.(10) Leisure involvement has a direct and significant degree of effect on leisure satisfaction, which indicates leisure involvement contributes to promoting leisure satisfaction of the rural residents.(11) Leisure satisfaction has a direct and significant effect on rural residents'overall satisfaction with life.(12) Leisure satisfaction has a significant effect on positive affect. However, less significant effect is reflected in subject group either financially well-being or poor, subject group in husband-wife families, and subject group aging over 61.(13) Rural residents with higher overall satisfaction with life obviously reflect positive affect, and it is true to all subject groups. Besides subject group in husband-wife families, further study is necessary to explore the reason. (14) Leisure constrains have some effects on leisure involvement in subject group aging 36-45, but not significant effects in other subject groups. This indicates that in the conceptual model leisure constraints have direct but negative effects on leisure involvement, which does not meet the situations in leisure life of the rural residents.Based on the study results, the author believe that leisure life does exist in lives of the rural residents in north-east China, and it varies and exhibits differences due to individual background differences. However, leisure life of the rural residents is still at the primary stage today. It has not yet become the main part of their daily life. Obviously, leisure constrains greatly affect the leisure life of the rural residents. Therefore, government departments related at all levels should adopt some feasible measures to diminish leisure constraints and help create an atmosphere to encourage active leisure life, so as to enliven the leisure life of the rural residents and thus to promote their subjective well-being.The dissertation is composed of seven chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the dissertation. It explains the objectives of the study, the practical significance, and the scope of the study. The second chapter deals with the literatures, analyzing the achievements and shortcomings of the earlier studies. The third chapter proposes the framework of the study, defines the chief concepts and terms, and describes the operation of the study. It presents a conceptual model and hypothesis and introduces the survey design and ways of data collection. The forth chapter discusses the results obtained through data analysis in the pilot study. The fifth chapter discusses the results learned from data analysis in the final study as to the leisure behaviors and their differences among the rural residents today. The sixth chapter discusses the results learned from data analysis in the final study as to the association between leisure behaviors and subjective well-being among the rural residents today. The seventh chapter is the conclusion part of the dissertation, briefly summarizing the study results and accounting the limitation of the study. Also, it suggests how to promote and improve the residents'leisure life in the construction of a new rural China.