Analysis of perceived freedom and stress coping attitudes of individuals participating in outdoor recreation

Aim of the Study: The aim of the study is to compare the perceived freedom and stress coping attitudes of outdoor recreation participants according to different demographic information and to examine the relationship between them. Material and Method: The study group consisted of a total of 323 (mean age = 26.14 ± 9.75) volunteers, 191 (mean age = 28.01 ± 10.75) males and 132 (mean age = 23.43 ± 7.34) females, who participated in outdoor recreation in Alanya province. Participants completed a personal questionnaire that included demographic information, the Perceived Freedom in Leisure Scale (PFLS) and the Stress Coping Attitudes Inventory (SCAI). Descriptive statistics, skewness and kurtosis values, Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient, Anova, Tukey HSD, independent samples t test and Pearson correlation tests were used to analyse the data. Findings: According to the results of the analysis, significant differences were observed in the total mean score of the PFLS in terms of 'wealth level', 'years of participation in outdoor recreation activities', 'weekly leisure time duration' and 'difficulty in using leisure time'; and in the total mean score of the SCAI in terms of 'gender', 'marital status' and 'educational status'. Significant differences were observed in the mean scores of the sub-dimensions of SCAI in relation to different variables. It was also found that there was a significant and positive correlation between the mean scores of the PFLS and the SCAI. Conclusions: It was found that different demographic variables may cause differences in individuals' perceived leisure freedom and coping attitudes towards stress. In addition, perceived leisure freedom was found to have positive effects on stress coping attitudes.