The buffering effect of leisure-generated social support and self-determination dispositions against life stress on mental and physical health

This study sought to determine the moderating effects of leisure-generated social support and self-determination personality disposition against the detrimental impact of life stress on both mental and physical health. Leisure friendship and companionship in shared leisure activities were believed to provide social support which in turn buffered against the adverse effects of life stress. In addition, intrinsic leisure motivation and perceived leisure freedom were seen as important characteristics of leisure to establish self-determination disposition which may also protect health when people are under a severe level of life stress.;Data were provided by 252 subjects, between ages 18 to 55 years, who completed an extensive questionnaire. The respondents were students of Taekwondo, a leisure activity for which participation was readily measurable and tended to be clearly separable from other activities.;Data were assessed using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The analyses showed that social support derived from leisure companionship interacted significantly with life stress (objective stress) to help explain severity of illness by buffering the negative effects of life stress on mental illness at high level of stress. Social support derived from leisure friendship was also found to interact significantly with life stress on physical illness. Therefore, leisure-generated social support was related to human health in a way consistent with being able to reduce the adverse effects of life stress. Additional analyses indicated that these interaction effects were largely independent of the level of leisure involvement. Supplemental analyses were performed to further test the interaction effects between leisure factors and perceived stress (subjective stress). Leisure-generated self-determination disposition from perceived leisure freedom buffered the detrimental effects of life stress on mental illness at high levels of stress. These findings were replicated after controlling for the level of leisure involvement.;In terms of main effects, leisure friendship, leisure companionship, intrinsic motivation, and perceived leisure freedom showed significant main effects on mental illness and indicated a contribution to mental health regardless of the level of life stress. Similarly, intrinsic leisure motivation and perceived leisure freedom had significant main effects on physical illness. Leisure friendship, leisure companionship, intrinsic motivation, and perceived freedom influenced perceived health regardless of life stress level.;In general, results supported the hypotheses; indicating that leisure-generated social support and self-determination disposition buffer the negative effects of life stress on physical and mental health. Implications for understanding the link between leisure factors, stress, and health are discussed.