The Influence of Ethnicity and Self-Construal on Leisure Constraints

Abstract

This study examines the effects of ethnicity, participation, and self-construal on constraints to the popular leisure activity of downhill skiing, an activity that is struggling to attract ethnic minority group members in North America. A new leisure constraints model guided our study, a framework that recognizes the importance of macro- (i.e., ethnicity) and micro-level (i.e., participation, self-construal) variables on the traditional concepts of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints. After sampling both Chinese- and Anglo-Canadian skiers and nonskiers, results indicate that ethnicity does influence leisure constraints, both alone and in interaction with self-construal.

Keywords:

• constraints
• ethnicity
• leisure
• participation
• self-construal
• skiing

Acknowledgments

Preparation of this article was supported by a grant to the lead author from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.