Measuring University Students' Regulatory Leisure Coping Styles: Planned Breathers or Avoidance?

Evidence suggests that leisure activities can be used as a means for coping with stress, but how leisure is used as an effective way to regulate difficult tasks is still unclear. Self-Determination Theory was used as a theoretical framework to propose two distinct approaches to regulatory leisure coping: the Planned-Breather Leisure Coping Style and the Avoidant Leisure Coping Style. The two proposed dimensions were tested and supported using a new scale with a university student population. Findings obtained in these studies suggested that regulatory orientation in a particular context was distinctively associated with the two proposed leisure coping styles and to different affective consequences following the regulation of a difficult task.

Keywords:

• coping strategies
• procrastination
• self-determination
• self-regulation
• stress

Acknowledgments

Author Note: This research was facilitated through doctoral scholarship from SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) attributed to the first author.

Notes

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.