Topic: A study on how students spend leisure time.

Target: Semester 3 (January 2013) students in KPTM

To find out: How do semester 3 (January 2013) KPTM students spend most of their

leisure time.

To understand: How students spend their leisure time.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of Study

A country needs youths who are able to stand up to challenges throughout

time. They must be shaped to be productive, aggressive, and not to mention creative,

to be successful in achieving life goals. To achieve these goals, youths should start

early to develop such qualities in order to be competent in their lives.

Ajileye (1999), in his paper “Integrating Social Life Skills in Nigerian Primary

Schools”, complains that among the major tasks facing the modern day youth is how

best to manage his/her leisure time productively.

Leisure is defined by Adewusi (1988) as being distinct from idleness and free

time corresponds only to the activity to which the individual may freely devote

himself outside the needs and obligations of his occupation, his family and society for

his relaxation, diversion and development. True to believe, a successful student is a

student who can manage his or her time properly. But going through the hectic life as

a student, youths do need space for themselves for them to channel out their stress.
 Ademuwagun (1988) classified leisure activities into individualized or

group/social focused. Individualized activities may be for self-expression, self-

realization, self-actualization, self-gratification, self-fulfilment, self-satisfaction as

well as for recuperation, restoration, boredom relieving and gratification. According

to him, individualized activities include walking, jogging, drawing, painting, and

singing, swimming, and reading for pleasure.

Currently, the college has provided a number of facilities exclusively for the

use of students to spend their free time doing activities that beneficial and positive for

them, such as the futsal court, tennis courts, basketball court, and the library and many

more. Not to mention that the college provided free Wi-Fi for the students’ use as

some students may prefer to spend their free time surfing the web.

According to research done by Meredith and Schewe (2002), they (teens) also

value cell phones, the Internet, and the satellite television. In order to gain more

enjoyment from their free time, sometimes a small cost must be paid. Some students

under MARA scholarship were given monthly allowance. Having this money can

provide a wider possibility on how they spend their time, for instance like buying a

faster internet service to surf the web, or just going for an outing around the city.

This research aims to find out what activities do the semester 3 students of

Poly-Tech MARA College (KPTM) usually do to spend their leisure time.

1.2. Statement of problem

Majority of college students enrolled at the age of 18 to 21 years old. They can

be viewed as late teens stepping into the adult world. Wilder (2003) states that

humans that are at 18-24 years of age are classed in human organisation as young

adults. Young adult must learn to maintain himself in close harmony with the others.

The main objective is to become knowledgeable adults.

Time management is one of the problems that have been plaguing students’

lives. Lawhon (1984) states that time are limited and scarce, so it must be used wisely.

Failure to benefit from the time given will disrupt students’ future planning, thus

causing problem to their study. Horne (2000) describes in his study on time

management that involved 57 third year students, showed that students spent a mean

of 40 hours per week on school work.

It is a common view that students choose to further their studies because of its

promise for better life. This process of obtaining higher education undeniably will

take many years. During all those years, students may encounter lots of problems and

this causes stress. Keil (2004) define stress as the internal distribution of a force

exerted on a material body, resulting in mental strain or to a harmful environmental

agent that could cause illness.

Dart (2013), in her article “20 Alternative Approaches to Stress” states that

activities such as exercising, meditating, music therapy, dance therapy and such are

well-documented as a stress-reducer. Undeniably, these activities are more suitable to

be done during one’s free time.

 In conclusion, if these predicaments could not be surmounted, it may result in

a bumpy road along their academic paths. This may lead to a dreadful outcome, like

dropping out from the college. That is why this study is focused on studying how

students spend their leisure time, so that a necessary course of action can be carried

out.
 1.3. Significance of study

There are a few significance of conducting this research.

First of all, KPTM students can use the results of this study to improve their

ways of spending leisure time by referring to the methods stated. Hopefully by doing

this they can spend their leisure time with a more beneficial purpose, like recreation,

and not just wasting their time by doing unproductive activities.

Secondly, parents can use this research to help guide their children on how to

spend their time. They can keep updated on the current trends of students’ free time

activities and make comparisons with their children’s own, then give necessary advice

or guidance to their children .

Furthermore, college authorities can use this research to find out what

productive activities KPTM students usually prefer to do to spend their leisure time

with. After that, maybe the authorities can take proactive action by providing related

conveniences on the college’s ground in order to sustain this healthy inclination

among the students.

 
2. Literature Review

This research is based on the Pickle Jar theory, which is the latest theory of

time management developed and taught by Jeremy Wright. Wright (2002), states that

The Pickle Jar theory is all about balance. You make time for everything and

everything simply fits well where it is supposed to fit. This theory is predicated on the

fact that each of us has many important things to be done in our lives. We also have

other things which we enjoy doing, such as sleep and rest.

According to Wright (2002), none of these are bad; after all we need the whole

scope of these things, from major priorities to minor ones in order for us to feel truly

fulfilled. This theory also emphasizes the need to figure and carry out one's major

priorities during the day and let the minor, relaxing ones such as checking the e-mail,

watching the TV, to fill in the gaps. If this is done, then one will have a more lenient

day. One will therefore get things done earlier, is more relaxed and his/her schedule of

the day will flow seamlessly. In this theory, students will have a list of activities

competing for his time such as attending lectures, studying and carrying out

assignments as well as engaging in leisure activities among other things. So there is

the need to establish priority to ensure that there is an adequate spread of time.

The management of time is a major factor in accomplishing stability in one's

life activities. According to Deacon and Firebaught (1975), time management is the

act of planning, controlling, implementing and evaluating time in order to accomplish

tasks. Busy people like students need to conserve time and energy. In order to achieve

this, time management strategies have to be employed in the accomplishment of

everyday activities.
 Ajileye (1999), in his paper "Integrating Social Life Skills in Nigerian Primary

Schools", complains that among the major tasks facing the modern day youth is how

best to manage his/her leisure time productively. In order to overcome this problem,

he recommends that the learning and teaching of social life skills should be

encouraged by school authorities and teachers. He lists social life skills to include:

 Survival and personal development skills

 Study skills

 Communication and relationship skills

 Work skills

 Domestic skills

 Leisure and community life skills (p.198)

Leisure offers recreation and therapeutic diversion from vocational life. It

affords opportunities for recreation, social service, education and the development of

interpersonal relationships. The characteristics of leisure, according to Emenike

(1988) include:

 Leisure is a bulk of time; emphasis is not placed on the time of the day.

 Leisure is freedom from those activities which have to be done--e.g. study,

work, household chores like cleaning, cooking, etc.

 Leisure is perceived as an end.

 Leisure has a minimum obligation to others, to routine and even to oneself.

 Leisure is seen as recreation. It prepares one for better work and helps to store

up energy or knowledge.
 In his study on the relationship between children time-spending activities and

their development, Larson (2001) states that American teens spend much of their free

time using media, particularly watching television. It is indicated that TV viewing is

American youths’ primary activity for 1.5 to 2.5 hours per day on average.

Sohi and Misheilla (1988), in their research on patterns of participation in and

attitudes towards leisure time activities of the University of Maiduguri, revealed that

students inclined to a more passive and unorganized leisure activities. Both male and

female subjects had positive and high attitudes towards participation and considered it

leading to favourable health outcomes and socially accepted consequences.

A study which examined the relationship between study time and test scores

by Dickson and O'Connell (1990) reveals that time spent organizing has a stronger

relationship with course test scores than with total study time or time spent reading

and reviewing. The subjects of this study were 113 undergraduates who kept daily self

monitoring logs of study activities.

Trueman and Hartley (1996) carried out a study on "Comparison between the

Time Management Skills and Academic Performance of Mature and Traditional-

Entry University Students". The study reveals that women in general report more

time-management skills than men and that older students have better time

management skills than younger students.

Price, Hunt, Wight, and Bianchi (n.d.) investigate the relationship between

family and teenagers’ time use. They find large gender differences, with girls

spending significantly more time doing housework, caring for younger siblings, and

studying, and less time watching television. Their results indicate that teenagers with

a single parent engage in more paid work, go to bed later, and are less likely to eat
dinner with their parent. Adolescents in households with more educated parents spend

more time studying and less time watching television, are more likely to eat dinner

with a parent but they also get less sleep.

Muson and Widmer (1997) examined relationships between leisure behaviour

and occupational identity in 109 college students. Results indicate significant

relationships among thinking and contemplating ethical leisure behaviour and

occupational identity. The study also revealed that students who are more involved in

intellectual and creative leisure activities are more advanced in occupational identity

achievement.

Fung (1990) carried out a study on "Effects of Hall Residence on Leisure

Activities and Student Activism in the 70's". The study specifically examined the

influence of dormitory residency on 760 University of Hong Kong students' leisure

activities, especially student activism. The result shows that living in dormitories

increases likelihood of becoming activists through increasing social interaction and

possibilities for peer influence.

In her excellent work on how do Canadian teenagers spend their days, Haley

(2008) states that teenagers aged 15 to 19 were spending less time in front of the

television but were spending more time working at a paid job and using the Internet in

2005. Among teenagers aged 15 to 19 years old the percentage watching television

has decreased over the last 20 years. About 75% of teenagers in 1986 watched

television, compared to 71% in 2005. For almost all other age groups television

watching has more or less stayed the same. In 1986, 15 to 19 year old boys watched

an average of 3.2 hours of television a day and girls in the same age group watched
2.8 hours. In 2005, teenage boys watched an average of 2.6 hours of television a day

and girls watched 2.2 hours.

What else are teenagers doing with their time? Haley (2008) further claims

that teenagers worked, with 29% of boys and 26% of girls working during the week,

in 2005. There has been a steady increase in the number of girls working at paid jobs

on the weekends. While 31% of girls worked on weekends in 2005, only 20% did so

in 1986. However, in 2005 girls and boys who worked at a paid job worked virtually

the same number of hours on the reference day (6 hours) compared to 5 hours in

1986. Girls reported spending more time studying than boys in 2005.
3. Conclusion

Leisure is very necessary after a hard day's work. It has the capacity to help

the recipient to mix with peers adequately and solve personal problems relating to life.

The presence of vices such as crimes and social problems are evidence of misplaced

use of time and waste of human life.

The issue on how students spend their leisure time has widely been discussed

in the literature. Therefore, this research intends to further explore this issue in order

to recognise which of the leisure time activities conducted by students are healthy and

what proactive actions can be done in order to maintain this productive inclination

among students.
4. References

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