“Adolescents today have more unsupervised and unstructured free time than ever before. Poor decisions by youth during periods of free time may lead to substance abuse, teen pregnancy and juvenile delinquency” (Finn 2007).

     As stated by Finn, there is much free time amongst adolescents today. The Carnegie Council Report on Adolescent Development (1992) states that about 40 percent of a youth’s time can be labeled “free” time. For today’s youth, the notion of meaningful use of their free time could be puzzling and alienating. Watching television and playing video games may dominate much of their leisure time. After a period of time, watching television and playing video games gets “old”. Adolescents become bored with constantly doing these activities and they look to other means of entertainment to bide their time. These other sources of entertainment may include experimenting with drugs, sex, and delinquent behaviors.

This issue with free time is not just an issue with today’s youth, but it has affected adolescents in other time periods. Jessica, from the book Random Family, was one of these adolescents with nothing to do. She was a high school drop out, and most of the time, she had nothing to do during the day. Because she and her family were not well off, she did not have the means of television and video games. She found other activities to bide her time, and those activities included drugs and sex. She ended up becoming pregnant and in jail.

Intrinsic Motivation

     In 2004, researcher Dr. Linda Caldwell, and her colleagues conducted a study on the benefits of a leisure education curriculum with middle school students. Caldwell found that the students in the study who received the curriculum reported more interest (motivation) in free time activities and less bored than other students (Finn 2007). The purpose of this research was to conduct an experimental study of a population of male delinquents by gathering data on how they utilize their free time, how motivated they are in their leisure, and to what degree boredom is a problem in an institutional setting. A further purpose was to study the impact of a leisure curriculum on motivation, knowledge, behavioral changes and proneness for boredom.

Over 600 middle school students participated in the study. Results indicate that the youth who received the leisure education were more motivated, participated more in positive leisure activities and were better able to turn boring situations into more pleasurable free time activities.

     The development of the leisure education curriculum, TimeWise, was funded by the US National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Drug Abuse. TimeWise consisted of six basic lessons where students became more aware of free time and the positive benefits of leisure activities. The participants also learned how to manage boredom, decision-making skills, balancing free time and how to pursue interesting free time activities. TimeWise also had a number of skill builders to reinforce the basic curriculum.

     Caldwell reported that the youth in their study who received the leisure education showed higher interests in free time activities and less boredom than the control subjects. The study reported that participation in the leisure education might provide a level of protections for the youth against involvement in negative behaviors (Caldwell et al., 2004)

     This solution could have helped Jessica in Random Family. If she would have had a leisure education curriculum in her middle school, she may have found other things to do rather than to do drugs and to have sex. She may have ended up motivated to complete her education and to strive for more in life. It could have made her feel like she was something, and not just somebody’s girl.

Caldwell, L.L., Baldwin, C.K., Walls, T., & Smith, E. (2004). Preliminary Effects of a Leisure Education Program to Promote Healthy Use of Free Time among Middle School Adolescents. Journal of Leisure Research, Vol. 36, No. 3, 310-35.

Finn, Paul Robert, Jr. (2006) An evaluation of the effects of a leisure education curriculum on delinquents’’ motivation, knowledge, and behavior changes related to boredom. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Central Florida, United States—Florida. Retrieved December 3, 2008, from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection database (Publication NO. AAT 3242432).