Investigating the Impact of Perceived Freedom in Leisure Time on Study-Leisure Conflict Among University Students

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between perceived freedom in leisure time and the conflict between study and leisure time among university students. Another aim of the study is to examine differences between these concepts according to gender and age. This study was designed as a survey research based on a quantitative research paradigm, and 152 subjects from Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Faculty of Sport Sciences participated in the study. Participants were selected using a simple random sampling method and voluntarily participated in the study. In addition to a personal information form, the perceived freedom in leisure time scale and the study-leisure time conflict scale were used as data collection tools. SPSS 26 software package was used for data analysis, and internal consistency coefficients were calculated for the data collection tool. The distribution of the data was examined using kurtosis and skewness values, and in addition to descriptive statistical methods, independent samples t-test, Pearson correlation analysis, and simple linear regression analysis were used in the data analysis. According to the analysis results, the mean score of the participants on the perceived freedom in leisure time scale was calculated as 3.57 (±0.79), while the mean scores on the leisure-study conflict scale were calculated as 3.12 (±1.16), 2.87 (±1.00), 2.97 (±1.22), 2.66 (±1.17), and 2.54 (±1.06), respectively. While a significant difference was found in the leisure-study conflict strain sub-dimension of the perceived study-leisure time conflict scale according to the gender of the participants, no significant difference was found in the other sub-dimensions and perceived freedom in leisure time scores. According to the Pearson Correlation test results, no significant correlation was found between the ages of the participants and their perceived freedom in leisure time scores and leisure-study conflict scores (p>0.05). A low-level positive correlation was found between perceived freedom in leisure time and study-leisure time conflict only in the time-based sub-dimension (p<0.01). According to the results of the simple linear regression analysis, 5% of the time-based score of the study-leisure conflict is explained by the independent variable in the model, namely the perceived freedom score during leisure time.