Encouraging young people’s capability to act: the complementary role of different leisure-time contexts in their everyday life

Abstract

This article foregrounds different leisure-time contexts and their relative support of young people’s capability to act. Analyses employ a new measurement instrument, which captures young people’s perception of the qualities of an exhaustive set of leisure-time contexts. Data was collected from 739 young people aged 16 to 17 years, who participated in the beginning of 2020 in the third wave of a quantitative panel in Vienna, Austria. Results highlight the potential of public/urban facilities since these support young people’s capability to act in comparable ways as training, courses, and rehearsals but are less rooted in heteronomy and obligation. Moreover, the study underscores that less-structured leisure time cannot be treated as a single plane of experience. Friends’ homes and outdoors in nature emerged as contexts that allow young people to experience a sense of possibility.

Keywords

• Youth
• capability to act
• leisure time
• everyday life
• measurement