The Social and Personality Correlates of Outdoor Recreation

• Date: 01 May 1970
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627038900106
• Published date: 01 May 1970
• Author: Abbott L. Ferriss
• Subject Matter: Articles

46

The

Social

and

Personality

Correlates

of

Outdoor

Recreation

By

ABBOTT

L.

FERRISS

*

Abbott

L.

Ferriss,

Ph.D.,

Washington,

D.C.,

is

a

Sociologist

with

the

social

indicators

program

of

the

Russell

Sage

Foundation

and

teaches

at

the

Northern

Virginia

Center,

the

University

of

Virginia.

The

author

of

The

National

Recreation

Survey

(1962)

and

other

studies,

he

recently

has

published

Indicators

of

Trends

in

American

Education

(1969)

and

Indicators

of

Change

in

the

American

Family

(1970).

* Bruce

Bandurski

of

the

staff

of

the

Bureau

of

Outdoor

Recreation

(BOR),

United

States

Department

of

the

Interior,

assisted

the

author

by

making

available

results

of

the

1965

National

Recreation

Survey,

by

assembling

studies

of

recreation

collected

in

the

files

of

BOR

and

other

locations,

and

through

discussions

over

a

period

of

several

months.

The

author

acknowledges

his

valuable

assistance

and

the

other

courtesies

extended

by

members

of

the

staff

of

the

Bureau

of

Outdoor

Recreation.

ABSTRACT :

The

sociocultural

system,

through

rewards

such

as

status,

sociability

of

group

activities,

value

orientations,

attitudes,

and

the

like,

evokes

outdoor

recreation

preferences,

as

is

revealed

by

actual

participation

rates.

Physical

activ-

ity

associated

with

many

forms

of

outdoor

recreation leads

to

more

vigorous

health.

Physical

activity

groups,

such

as

athletes

engaged

in

a

particular

sport,

exhibit

personality

traits

that

are

different

from

those

of

nonathletes.

However,

it

has

not

been demonstrated

that

personality

traits

are

altered

through

participating

in

physical

exercise

or

sport.

Persons

with

different

socioeconomic

characteristics

exhibit

different

recreation

participation

rates.

From

1960

to

1965,

these

rates

have been

changing.

Major

increases

in

passive

recreational

activities

have

occurred,

but

participation

rates

in

activities

that

require

large

allocations

of

natural

resources

have

increased

very

little.

Active

forms

of

recreation,

chiefly

characterizing

youth,

have

increased

notably,

while

backwoods

activities

have

increased

only

slightly.