The relationship of diverse leisure activities with flourishing.

The relationship between leisure and wellbeing is of great interest in the field of leisure studies. Keyes (2002) developed a typology of flourishing vs. languishing that encompasses subjective, psychological, and social wellbeing and is linked with physical health and functioning. However, little research has been done to show how participation in various forms of leisure might be associated with this flourishing typology. Drawing on data from community data with over 5,000 adult participants, we assessed how leisure is associated with a flourishing typology. For the present analyses, we focus on scales that assessed social leisure (e.g., socializing with friends), cultural leisure (e.g., festival attendance), home-based leisure (e.g., reading books for pleasure), physically active leisure (e.g., moderate or vigorous), and media-based leisure (e.g., time spent playing computer games or watching TV). A flourishing typology was constructed from single-item ratings on life satisfaction (subjective wellbeing), psychological well-being (self-perceptions that one's life activities are worthwhile), and social wellbeing (sense of belonging). Flourishing was linked to greater participation in cultural, social, home-based, and physically active leisure. Greater time spent playing computer games and watching TV was associated with languishing. Thus, certain forms of leisure reflect flourishing and others are linked with languishing. The nature of these associations remains to be explored, in particular, whether leisure contributes to flourishing or if flourishing facilitates certain forms of leisure participation.

'When you think your neighbour's cooking pot is better than yours': A mixed-methods exploration of inequality and wellbeing in Ghana.

Existing evidence suggests that rising inequality is detrimental to population wellbeing. However, the mediums through which inequality affects wellbeing in the context of low to middle-income countries (LMICs), where absolute and relative deprivation are extreme, remain unknown. As part of a larger research program that aims to develop a Global Index of Wellbeing (GLOWING), this paper explores the linkages between inequality and wellbeing in Ghana. We used key constructs from the capability and ecosocial theoretical frameworks, and a parallel mixed-methods approach. Through path analysis, we examined the pathways between different measures of inequality and wellbeing. Further, qualitative interviews were used to explore perceptions of inequality and links with wellbeing; this provided context and depth to our quantitative results. Results show that inequalities may affect wellbeing by constraining access to basic amenities like water, food, and housing and also through community social capital and cohesion. The implications of the results for policy and practice, specifically to ensuring shared prosperity, are discussed.

A Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of the Seasonal Flu Vaccine in Ontario, Canada, October 2001 to March 2011.

Seasonal flu vaccine uptake has fallen dramatically over the past decade in Ontario, Canada, despite promotional efforts by public health officials. Media can be particularly influential in shaping the public response to seasonal flu vaccine campaigns. We therefore sought to identify the nature of the relationship between risk messages about getting the seasonal flu vaccine in newspaper coverage and the uptake of the vaccine by Ontarians between 2001 and 2010. A content analysis was conducted to quantify risk messages in newspaper content for each year of analysis. The quantification allowed us to test the correlation between the frequency of risk messages and vaccination rates. During the time period 2001-2010, vaccination rates were positively and significantly related to the frequency of risk messages in newspaper coverage (r = .691, p < .05). The most commonly identified risk messages related to the flu vaccine being ineffective, the flu vaccine being poorly understood by science, and the flu vaccine causing harm. Newspaper coverage plays an important role in shaping public response to seasonal flu vaccine campaigns. Public health officials should work alongside media to ensure that the public are exposed to information necessary for making informed decisions regarding vaccination.

Contributions of leisure participation in predicting stress coping and health among police and emergency response services workers.

This study examined the extent to which frequency and enjoyment measures of leisure participation predict adaptational outcomes, over and above the contributions of general coping. Police and emergency response services workers (N = 132) participated in the study, and a repeated measures design was used. The study provides evidence that the type of leisure activity matters in predicting immediate adaptational outcomes (coping effectiveness, coping satisfaction and stress reduction) and mental and physical health. Relaxing leisure was found to be the strongest positive predictor of coping with stress, while social leisure and cultural leisure significantly predicted greater mental or physical health.