Cross-National

Gender Differences in
Adolescents’ Preferences
for Free-Time Activities

Judith L. Gibbons
Maria Lynn
Saint Louis University
Deborah A. Stiles
Webster University

According to a procedure developed by Sundberg and Tyler, adoles-

cents (904, 14 to 16 years of age) from Cyprus, India, the Nether-
lands, and the United States listed all the free-time activities they
could think of, checking those they would consider for themselves.
In each sample boys checked relatively more sports activities and
more group activities as possible for themselves than did girls,

although the result for sports in Cyprus was of borderline signifi-

cance. The pervasive gender differences in the use of free time

correspond with widespread gender-trait stereotyping and may

reflect differential socialization practices for girls and boys.
A number of cross-cultural methodologists have pointed out that
differences among persons from different cultures can arise for

Authors’ Note: A preliminary report of this research was presented at the

Annual Meeting of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research, February 1992,
Santa Fe, New Mexico. This study was supported, in part, by the Beaumont
Cross-Cultural Research, Vol. 31 No. 1, February 1997 55-69
0 1997 Sage Publications, Inc.
55

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56

many reasons and that null hypothesis testing may be inappropri-

ate for most cross-cultural studies (Poortinga & Malpass, 1986;
Triandis, 1994). Therefore, cross-cultural researchers are increas-
ingly searching for invariances, that is, similarities across cultures-
phenomena that appear to be widespread or even universal (e.g.,
Buss et al., 1990; Fiske, 1993; Williams & Best, 1990).
One candidate for a cross-cultural universal is gender differ-
ences in how adolescents spend their leisure time. Studies done in
Ireland (Fitzgerald, Joseph, Hayes, & O’Regan, 1995), Scotland
(Smith, 1987), Australia (Garton & Pratt, 1991), the United King-
dom (Department of Education and Science, 1983), Sweden (Eng-
str6m, 1974), and the United States (American Association of
University Women [AAUW], 1990; Eccles & Harold, 1991;
Kirshnit, Ham, & Richards, 1989) have shown that boys are more
likely to participate in sports or to be interested in sports partici-
pation than are girls. This gender difference holds also for adoles-
cents of South Asian descent living in the United Kingdom (Car-
rington, Chivers, & Williams, 1987). Adolescent boys are also more
likely than girls to use sports and recreation as a means of coping
with stress, as shown by studies in Switzerland (Plancherel &
Bolognini, 1995) and in Australia (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993).
Other gender differences in the use of free time have been
revealed in studies whose design did not permit distinctions be-
tween sport or nonsport activities. Among adolescents in northern
Israel, both Arab and Jewish boys spent more time than their
female counterparts in informal activities outside the home, in-
cluding neighborhood sports (Florian & Har-Even, 1984). Arab
boys spent more time than Arab girls at organized after-school
activities including sports and other clubs and in public events
such as sport competitions. These gender differences were absent
for Jewish adolescents. Among Nigerian adolescents who chose
from among a list of recreational sports activities, more males

Faculty Development Fund of Saint Louis University. The authors would

like to thank Els Peters, Philios Phylaktou, Hardin Collins, Engracia Perez
Prada, Yvonne Wood, Ellen Biekert, Kathleen Phylaktou, Anne Hansen,
Kelly Wadeson, and Brenda Tracey for contributions to the collection of
data and the preparation of this manuscript. Correspondence regarding
this article should be addressed to Judith L. Gibbons, Department of
Psychology, Saint Louis University, 221 North Grand Boulevard, St. Louis,
MO 63103; E-mail: gibbonsjl@sluvca.slu.edu.

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 57

chose soccer and table tennis and more females chose basketball
and handball (Amuchie, 1982). Adolescent boys in Finland and
Australia were more likely than girls to list leisure activities among
their future hopes and fears (Nurmi, Poole, & Kalakoski, 1994).
When adolescents engage in sports, boys may be more likely
than girls to participate in team sports. More than half of the boys
in a diverse U.S. sample listed a team sport as a hobby compared
to 29% of the girls. When the girls did list sports, they tended to
list individual sports (such as swimming or gymnastics) (AAUW,
1990). This finding was replicated in a longitudinal study of Scot-
tish adolescents in which boys more often preferred team sports
and girls preferred swimming (Smith, 1987). In a similar vein,
young adolescent girls from the northeastern United States pre-
ferred leisure activities that provided one-on-one contact, whereas
boys more often preferred to associate with neighborhood groups
(McMeeking & Purkayastha, 1995).
Girls may, in fact, have less free time than boys, as shown by
studies in the United States (Mauldin & Meeks, 1990; Shaw,
Kleiber, & Caldwell, 1995) and among South Asian immigrants in
the United Kingdom (Carrington et al., 1987), and compared to
boys may value a &dquo;life of leisure&dquo; less, as demonstrated in the
10-nation study by Offer and his colleagues (Offer, Ostrov, Howard,
& Atkinson, 1988) and by Chamberlain in Ireland (Chamberlain, 1983).
The free time that girls do have seems to be spent in ways other
than team sports. Studies from the United States, Israel, and
Australia have revealed that girls are more likely than boys to
spend their free time reading (Eccles & Harold, 1991; Florian &
Har-Even, 1984) or involved in &dquo;vocational&dquo; interests such as
visiting a library or museum, reading, or gardening (Garton &
Pratt, 1991).
The ways that adolescents use their free time is important
because it is in their leisure activities that adolescents may best
exercise their own preferences or choices (Kirshnit et al., 1989;
Larson, 1994; Silbereisen, Noack, & Schonpflug, 1994). In addi-
tion, adolescents’ leisure-time activities may be carried into the
future in terms of their leisure activities (Kelly, 1974) or particular
occupational choices (Hong, Milgram, & Whiston, 1993) as adults
(but see also Chick & Barnett, 1995; and Poole & Cooney, 1986 for
critiques and counter arguments). In a review that emphasized
longitudinal studies rather than correlational approaches, Larson

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58

(1994) concluded that participation in extracurricular activities

during adolescence was linked to higher educational and occupa-
tional attainment in adulthood. He attributed this effect to practice
in carrying out self-controlled long-term projects, although he
acknowledged the possibility that a third factor, such as a person-
ality trait, accounted for both the participation in hobbies and
sports and the occupational success.
Sports in particular may serve a specific function for adolescent
boys. Although there is little and conflicting evidence that partici-
pation in sports or even that winning at sports directly leads to
increases in self-esteem (Hines & Groves, 1989; Larson, 1994),
boys may justify (more often than girls) their high self-esteem in
terms of sports accomplishments (AAUW, 1990). Success in sports
may lead to increased social status for adolescent males, at least
in the United States (Suitor & Reavis, 1995; Thirer & Wright,
1985). In one study of high school students, for example, the most
important criterion for popularity of males, as ranked by both girls
and boys, was athletic ability (Thirer & Wright, 1985).
What is clear from the studies cited above is that leisure or
free-time activities provide contexts in which adolescents develop
skills and accomplish developmental tasks. With increased recog-
nition of the role of contexts in human development (e.g., Sil-
bereisen & Zbdt, 1994), the way that contexts differ for boys and
girls becomes more important. The purpose of the present study
was to extend the findings of gender differences in adolescent
leisure activities in cross-national perspective. Specifically, our
samples included adolescents from India, the Netherlands, Cy-
prus, and the United States.

METHOD

PARTICIPANTS

The participants were 904 adolescents (14 to 16 years of age)

from Haarlem, the Hague, and Enkhuizen in the Netherlands (145
boys, 111 girls), St. Louis, Missouri in the United States (177 boys,
175 girls), Madras, India (48 boys, 47 girls) and Larnaca, Cyprus
(109 boys, 92 girls).

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 59

INSTRUMENT

A questionnaire developed by Sundberg and Tyler (1970) was

employed. Included were instructions to &dquo;list all the free time
activities you can think of and then check those you would consider
for yourself.&dquo; Sundberg and Tyler’s original English version was
used in the United States and India, and the original Dutch version
in the Netherlands. The instructions were translated into Greek
for administration in Cyprus.

PROCEDURE

As part of another study (Stiles, Gibbons, & Peters, 1993) school

teachers in India, the Netherlands, and the United States were
approached for their students’ participation on the basis that the
task would be interesting and informative for their students. In
Cyprus participants were recruited from a summer camp where
the director agreed that the research would be an interesting
exercise for the adolescent campers. In all settings participation
was anonymous and voluntary.

CATEGORIZING

The free-time activities checked by the participants as possible

for themselves were categorized into sports or nonsports, with
sports defined as an athletic game or physical activity engaged in
for pleasure. The activities were also categorized as group or
nongroup, with group activities defined as those that necessarily
or generally involve at least one other person. For example, com-
mon group sports in India included table tennis and cricket, group

nonsports were socializing and indoor card games. Nongroup

sports included swimming and walking, and nongroup nonsports
included reading and collecting.

RESULTS

The mean numbers of leisure activities listed and checked, the

mean percentage checked, the percentage of sports checked, the

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60

percentage of group checked, and the free-time activities most

frequently checked as possible for oneself are listed by gender and
country in Table 1.
The percentages of listed free-time options that adolescents
checked as possible for themselves were analyzed by analysis of
variance (ANOVA). The two independent variables were both be-
tween subject variables, gender (male or female) and sample
(United States, the Netherlands, India, and Cyprus). The percent-
age of free-time activities checked as possible for oneself was
higher for adolescent boys (M 44.7) than for girls (M 41.0), F(l,
= =

896) = 6.98, p < .O 1. There was also a significant effect for sample,
F(3, 896) = 19.49, p < .001, and a significant interaction between
gender and sample, F(3, 896) 2.83, p < .05. Posthocs demon-
=

strated that adolescents from the United States checked a higher

proportion of leisure activities as possible for themselves than did
adolescents from the other three countries. In the United States
boys checked a higher proportion of known free-time possibilities
than did girls, but there was no significant gender difference in the
other samples.
The leisure-time activities that were seen as possibilities for
oneself were categorized as sports or nonsports activities, group or
nongroup activities. For adolescents from each sample, Chi square
analyses were performed comparing the number of sports versus
nonsports and the number of group versus nongroup activities for
boys and girls. In the Netherlands, of 2,655 activities that could be
classified, 50.9% of the activities listed by boys were sports and
44.3% of the activities listed by girls were sports. This difference
was significant, x2 11.27, p < .001. Boys were also more likely to
=

list group activities (40.1%) than were girls (29.9%), X2 = 30.07, p

< .001. Of the 444 activities checked as possibilities by the Cypriot
adolescents, boys’listings were 48.8% sports and girls’listings were
41.4% sports, x2 = 2.12, p < .15. Boys were significantly more likely
to check group activities (39%) than were girls (23.8%), x2 = 11.15,
p < .001. Of the 3,327 leisure activities checked as possible for
oneself by adolescents from the United States, a higher percentage
of boys’ listings (55.7%) than girls’listings (45.3%) were classified
as sports, x2 35.06, p < .001. Also, a higher percentage of boys’
=

activities (43.7%) than girls’ activities (40.1%) were group activi-

ties, x2 4.09, p < .05. Of 824 activities that could be checked as
=

possibilities, boys in India also listed a higher percentage of sports

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 63

activities (26.2%) than did girls (19%), X’ = 5.76, p < .05, and
significantly more group activities (41.9%) than did girls (29.3%),
x2 = 13.67, p < .001.

DISCUSSION

The cross-national differences in the numbers of leisure activi-

ties listed and checked are difficult to interpret and may be due to
such factors as the amount of time that participants had available
to do the research task and also their alternatives to continuing to
generate leisure possibilities. For example, in some classrooms,
students who had finished the questionnaire could then chat with
their classmates.
More interesting and potentially important are the pervasive
gender differences in the kinds of free-time activities that adoles-
cents would consider for themselves. Adolescent boys, more than
girls, checked sports activities and also activities that required
group participation. In her discussion of leisure constraints,
Hultsman (1993) has identified two types of constraints-those
that prevent a person’s preferences from being exercised (interven-
ing constraints) and those that limit one’s original preferences
(antecedent constraints). The constraints that limit girls’ partici-
pation in sports seem to be in the category of antecedent constraints
in that their expressed preferences show lesser enthusiasm for en-
gaging in sports.
Gender differences in leisure are not unique to adolescents, but
are present in children’s play. According to Lever (1978), boys’
games are more complex and involve more participants than do
girls’ games. Gender differences in sports participation persist into
adulthood (Beatty, Jeon, Albaum, & Murphy, 1994).
Eccles and Harold (1991) have proposed a model to explain
gender differences in sports participation. The model was sup-
ported in a study of U.S. adolescents in that gender differences in
sports participation were eliminated by taking out the variance
due to estimations of one’s own ability at sports, the value of doing
well, enjoyment of the activity, and the usefulness of the activity.
Although the model seems to account well for the proximal causes
of gender differences (at least for U.S. adolescents), it remains to
be seen whether it holds in other cultural settings and also whether

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64

it fails to explain why girls and boys in a wide variety of cultures

should estimate their sports abilities differently, or value or enjoy
sports to different extents.
In terms of pancultural universals, Williams and Best (1990)
have found that certain traits are believed by persons of 25 differ-
ent nations to differentially characterize women and men. There
are widespread beliefs that men are more adventurous, aggressive,

autocratic, daring, dominant, enterprising, forceful, independent,

robust, stern, and strong and that women are more affectionate,
dreamy, sensitive, sentimental, submissive, and superstitious. The
male stereotype was demonstrated, using the semantic differential,
to be both more active and stronger than the female stereotype.
The present findings may be related to this finding in that activity
and strength may be advantageous for sports participation, and
adolescent girls and boys (who also hold gender-trait stereotypes)
may come to believe that boys are more likely to be successful in
sports. Beliefs about differential abilities may lead to gender
differences in preferences as predicted by the Eccles and Harold
(1991) model described above.
The current results also echo the findings of the most extensive
study of adolescence in preindustrial societies (Schlegel & Barry,
1991). Schlegel and Barry reported the culturally invariable gen-
der difference that adolescent girls spend more time in settings of
multigenerational females and that adolescent boys spend more
hours in the company of peers. The consequence of these differen-
tial socializing experiences may be that girls learn more social
responsibility and boys learn to compete as equals.
However, simply noting the consistencies between gender differ-
ences in leisure activities and international gender stereotypes and

practices in preindustrial societies does not account for the more

distal causes of these gender differences. More distal causes might
be sought in theories of socialization or enculturation. All parents
and cultures socialize their children to be successful, effective
participants in society (Kagitgibaqi, 1996). In addition, children
themselves may select from among environmental options. Maccoby
has pointed out that children show early preferences for same-gen-
der peers and that girls’ and boys’ play groups show different
interaction styles (Maccoby, 1990). Boys’ groups are more con-
cerned with dominance and competition and girls’ interactions are
more facilitative and enabling. Girls’ interactive styles may be

functionally adaptive in that they may make them more sensitive

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 65

and effective as mothers (Maccoby, 1990). A phenomenon that

appears to be a cross-cultural universal is that mothers are more
involved in the care of children than are fathers (Munroe &
Munroe, 1997). So girls’ preferences for same-gender playmates
and an enabling interactive style may make team sports (charac-
terized by competition and hierarchy) less attractive to girls and
may, at the same time, help them to develop interpersonal styles
that are adaptive in their adult social roles. Conversely, the same
features that make sports unappealing to girls may make them
compelling to boys, whose preferred interactive style is competitive
(Maccoby, 1990). A competitive style might also be useful to boys
in their adult social roles, as in the quote attributed to Arthur
Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), &dquo;The battle of Waterloo
was won on the playing fields of Eton&dquo; (Bartlett, 1955, p. 400).

Despite these findings of rather widespread gender differences

in leisure time preferences, clearly there is great individual vari-
ability. One girl in the AAUW study in the United States (AAUW,
1990) listed her hobbies as basketball, baseball, and soccer. Factors
such as parental sport participation promote sports participation
in girls (Colley, Eglinton, & Elliott, 1992). Among the present
results, the borderline significance of gender differences in sports
participation among adolescents enrolled in a summer camp in
Cyprus suggests that in a setting where sports are salient, gender
differences may be minimized or eliminated.
Although we have emphasized the pervasiveness of gender
differences in adolescents’use of leisure time, there are similarities
as well as differences. Studies using the Experience Sampling

(&dquo;beeper&dquo;) method in the United States showed that adolescent

boys and girls experienced equal enjoyment of engaging in sports
(Kirshnit et al., 1989). The level of participation in organized
sports was also similar for boys and girls (Kirshnit et al., 1989). It
was in terms of informal team sports that boys showed higher
levels of participation than did girls. The high levels of involvement
and challenge reported during sports participation are also found
during other kinds of extracurricular activity (Larson, 1994). Thus,
although girls and boys may engage in different activities, they
may be similarly having experiences that are essential to accom-
plishing developmental tasks.
There are limitations to the present study. Only four nations
(three continents) were sampled. Although four cultures repre-
sents the minimum number for a cross-cultural study (Munroe &

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66

Munroe, 1991), further extension of these findings is warranted.

In addition, adolescent participants all lived in or near urban
areas. Further studies should not only address these limitations
but begin develop
to conceptual frameworks for under-
or test
standing the gender differences. For example, do the predictors of
sports participation identified by Eccles and Harold (1991) hold in
different cultural settings? Does gender role stereotyping predict
gender differences in leisure in different cultural settings? These
questions await further research.

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Judith L. Gibbons is Professor of Psychology at Saint Louis University.

With Deborah Stiles, she has been engaged in a large cross-national study
of young adolescents’ views of the ideal woman and man. Her particular
research interests include the development of adolescent girls in Guatemala
and acculturation processes in adolescents and their families.

Maria Lynn is a doctoral candidate in social psychology at Saint Louis

University. Her research concerns adolescent women’s career and educa-
tional choices and development. She is also interested in the factors
contributing to college and university student development.

Deborah A. Stiles is Associate Professor of Education at Webster University

and a licensed psychologist in Missouri. She has taught at Webster Uni-
versity in St. Louis, Missouri, Keflavik, Iceland, Leiden, The Netherlands,
and Geneva, Switzerland and she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Univer-
sity of Oslo in Norway. With Judith Gibbons,she has been engaged in a
large cross-national study of young adolescents’ views of the ideal woman
and man. She is interested in cross-cultural human development and
sports psychology.

Downloaded from ccr.sagepub.com at NANYANG TECH UNIV LIBRARY on May 24, 2015