Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Societal and technological changes have an impact on habits related to youth sport and leisure time. The internet-based character of leisure time has created new practices. Young people have to navigate within a disrupted landscape of time, place and space. The aim of this study is to explore views of leisure time, sport activities and PE participation among students aged 15. The results will be discussed from a critical sociocultural perspective with focus on how culture, structure and agency intersect. The findings will also be discussed in relation to a similar study conducted in 2007.

The project is a follow-up, cross-sectional study based on a longitudinal research project named School – Sport – Health, initiated in 2001. Eight semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted in 2016 (30 boys, 18 girls), based on a strategic sample of four schools that participated in 2001. Two of the schools reported high levels of physical activity among the students, and two schools reported low levels of physical activity. An inductive qualitative content analysis guided the procedure for analyzing the empirical material.

The results show that school and friends are central to the way students handle leisure time involving physical activities. The students strive to be independent, to experience development and belonging, all of which challenge the way organized sports are planned. For a number of students, club sports are still a dominant part of their leisure time, however not uncontested. Internet-based activities allow flexibility, where one can choose to interact across time, place and space, as well as across gender and age. The value of school PE is highlighted in terms of health and wellbeing. The results indicate tension between physical activities in a school setting and leisure time physical activities. Content and quality are related to experienced agency and structure. Schoolwork, experienced lack of time and development, play a more central role in students’ experiences of everyday life physical activities in 2016 compared to results from 2007.