Examining the opinions of university students who study in sports education institutions about the meaning of leisure time

In this study, it was aimed to examine the opinions of university students studying sports institutions about the meaning of leisure time. A total of 812 university students (309 women and 503 men) participated in the study. The data collection tool used in the research consists of two parts. In the first part, the questions that were created to collect information about the personal characteristics (age, gender, marital status, etc.) of the individuals in the study group were included. In the second part, the Meaning of Free Time Scale consisting of 35 items and 8 sub-dimensions (Active-Passive Participation, Social Interaction, Perceived Competence, Usability of Leisure, Perceived Freedom, Intrinsic Motivation, Goal Orientation and Work Relationship) was used to assess how individuals feel when they participate in leisure time activities. Turkish adaptation of the scale was performed by Gürbüz, Özdemir and Karaküçük (2007). Participants were asked to evaluate the statements on the Likert type 6 ("Strongly Disagree" = 1 and "I Agree" = 6) intermittent option. As a result of the study, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference in the variables of gender, age, leisure time difficulty, sporting status, department and welfare levels (p <0.05). Keywords: Leisure, Recreation, University Students