A Cross-Cultural/National Study of Canadian, Chinese, and Japanese University Students' Leisure Satisfaction and Subjective Well-Being

An article written by Dr. Eiji Ito (Wakayama University) and Prof. Gordon J. Walker (Distinguished University Professor, Wakayama University / Professor, University of Alberta), was published in a tourism academic journal, the Leisure Sciences.

 

Title

A Cross-Cultural/National Study of Canadian, Chinese, and Japanese University Students' Leisure Satisfaction and Subjective Well-Being

 

Author

Eiji Ito, Faculty of Tourism, Wakayama University, Wakayama City, Japan

Gordon J. Walker, Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Huimei Liu, School of International Studies, and Asia Pacific Centre for the Education and Study of Leisure, Zhejiang University, China

Ondrej Mitas, Academy for Tourism, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands

 

Source

Leisure Sciences, 2017 Vol. 39, No. 2, 186-204

DOI: 10.1080/01490400.2016.1165637

*Indexed in Scopus

Source details: https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/28910?origin=sbrowse

 

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether Canadian, Chinese, and Japanese university students’ leisure satisfaction affected their subjective well-being (SWB) and, if so, how this process was similar and different cross-culturally/nationally. A series of stepwise multiple regressions indicated that, in general, satisfying leisure significantly and positively impacted SWB across all three cultures, but there were also differences between (a) Canada and both China and Japan in terms of aesthetic leisure satisfaction and (b) China and Japan in terms of psychological and physiological leisure satisfaction. Overall, our results suggest that while satisfying leisure significantly, positively, and substantively impacts SWB in both Western and East Asian cultural contexts, culture frequently influences which specific elements are pertinent. This cross-cultural/national study has important theoretical and practical implications for the currently Western-centric leisure literature and for the understanding of the different roles leisure plays in enhancing SWB across cultures, respectively.

 

Key words

culture; East Asia; leisure; leisure satisfaction; subjective