The role of youth centers in active life: Constraints, motivation

The aim of the study is to determine the correlation between active life constraints and leisure motivation levels of the youth participating in activities in youth centers, and to compare them in terms of different variables. In the study, correlational survey model of quantitative research is used. The population of the study consists of individuals who participated in activities in youth centers which are affiliated with the Youth and Sports Provincial Directorate of Antalya affiliated with the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2023 whereas the study group consists of 343 female (Meanage=21,23 ± 2,73) and 201 males (Meanage=21,50 ± 2,90) among these individuals which is 544 participants (Meanage=21,33 ± 2,80 in total. The participants consist of volunteers determined using convenience sampling method. In the study, demographic information form prepared by the researcher, Active Life Constraints Scale and Leisure Motivation Scale were used. To determine the normality of the obtained data, skewness and kurtosis analysis were done. Also, Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficients, structural reliability and adjusted R2 coefficients were calculated. In the analysis of the data, MANOVA, ANOVA, Pearson Correlation and simple linear regression tests were done. In the analysis of the obtained data 0,05 significance level was used. According to MANOVA analysis, "physical activity participation" and "having difficulty in leisure participation" variables have significant effects on ALCS and LMS subscales, and there are statistically significant differences in all subscales of ALCS and LMS. Also, a negative and low level of correlation was found between ALCS total and subscale scores and "internal motivation" and "external motivation" subscales whereas "amotivation" subscale has a positive and medium/high level of correlation with ALCS total and subscale scores. To conclude, LMS and ALCS total mean scores and subscale scores differ in terms of different variables; especially, the participants who have no difficulty in leisure participation and who participate in physical activities have an increase in leisure motivation and decrease in active life constraints. Also, as the leisure motivation of the youth increases, the active life constraints decrease.