What Drives Your Leisure Time?
Learning, company, mastery, or simply getting away from it all
Not everyone relaxes for the same reason. Some people pick up a hobby to learn something new, some do it to be around people, some want a challenge to get better at, and some just want the noise of the day to stop. The classic research on leisure motivation split it into exactly these four reasons, and most people lean heavily on one or two of them without realising the others barely register.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Think about your actual leisure activities, not the ones you feel you should be doing.
What it measures
The four motives of Beard and Ragheb's Leisure Motivation Scale: intellectual (learning, exploring, mental stimulation), social (friendship, belonging, being seen well by others), competence-mastery (challenge, skill, achievement, sometimes competition) and stimulus-avoidance (rest, solitude, escaping noise and overstimulation). It differs from our exercise-motivation test, which is specific to physical activity, and from flow, which is about the experience of absorption during an activity rather than why you chose it in the first place.
Based on: Leisure Motivation Scale (Beard & Ragheb, 1983)
Possible results
Intellectual
Leisure as a way to learn, explore and stimulate your mind.
Social
Leisure as a way to be with people and feel you belong.
Competence-mastery
Leisure as a challenge to get better at, sometimes against others.
Stimulus-avoidance
Leisure as rest, solitude and escape from noise and overstimulation.
Common questions
Can I be high on more than one motive?
Yes, and most people are. The four motives were found to be relatively independent in the original research, so someone can be strongly social and strongly mastery-driven at once - think of a competitive team sport, which serves both at the same time.
Does a low score on all four mean I do not enjoy leisure?
Not necessarily - this scale measures why you seek out leisure, not how much you enjoy the specific things you do. Someone can score modestly on all four motives and still genuinely like a particular activity for reasons the scale was not built to capture, such as pure sensory pleasure.
Should I try to pick a hobby that fits my strongest motive?
It tends to help. Research on leisure and wellbeing finds that activities matching your actual motives are more likely to stick, while a hobby chosen because it looks good or because everyone else does it, but that serves none of your real motives, tends to get dropped.
Sources
- Beard, J. G., & Ragheb, M. G. (1983). Measuring Leisure Motivation. Journal of Leisure Research. doi:10.1080/00222216.1983.11969557
- Weissinger, E., & Bandalos, D. L. (1995). Development, reliability and validity of a scale to measure intrinsic motivation in leisure. Journal of Leisure Research. doi:10.1080/00222216.1995.11949756
An honest note These statements are Quinthea's own wording, adapted from the four motives of the Leisure Motivation Scale, so scores are not comparable to the published norms. This is about what draws you to free time in general, not about any single hobby, and there is no correct mix - the four motives are not meant to sum to the same total for everyone. It is not a measure of how much leisure time you have, only of what you tend to want from it when you get some.
Try one of these next
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What possessions mean to you: a scoreboard, a pastime, or a promise of happiness
What Is Your Money Personality?
What money means to you matters more than how much you have
What Does Music Do for You?
Chills, comfort, discovery, dancing or company - the five pleasures of music