An Evaluation Of The Effects Of A Leisure Education Curriculum On Deliquents' Motivation, Knowledge, And Behavior Changes Related To Boredom

Adolescents today have more unsupervised and unstructured free time than ever before. Poor decisions by youth during periods of free time may lead to substance abuse, teen pregnancy and juvenile delinquency. The highest frequency of juvenile crime, a major social problem, occurs during the 2-4 hours following the end of the school day. Research has demonstrated the benefits of engaging adolecents in prosocial leisure activity. However, no research has studied the issues of free time and leisure education with a delinquent population. This paper documents the impact of a leisure education curriculum on a population of delinquent youth in a randomized experiment. The delinquent youths who received the leisure education reported higher intrinsic motivation and better use of free time. The delinquent youths also reported improved decision making related to their involvement in healthy, prosocial free time activities. Finally, the improvement in the delinquent youths' motivation influenced a significant decrease in the delinquent youths' proneness to boredom during their free time.

Author dc:creator

• Finn, Paul, Jr.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Wan, Thomas T. H.

• Leisure
• boredom
• delinquency
• free time
• Criminology and Criminal Justice

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

CFE0001472

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-2100