The Impact of Leisure Time Activities on the Academic Performance among College Students

Abstract

One of the most important aspects of life is leisure time activities, especially for students because they allow them to participate in extracurricular activities outside of the classroom and advance their development of active behaviour. The purpose of the study is to ascertain how students spend their free time and how it impacts their academic achievement. Students in higher education institutions participate in a variety of activities, including sports, leisure pursuits, social networking, etc. Our selection of the six components—physical activities, indoor activities, social activities, reading activities, dating/relationship activities, and recreational activities—is based on literature review findings showing students engage in a variety of leisure activities. College students between the ages of 18 and 30 were taken into account for this study. A questionnaire-based method was utilised to collect the data, and it was distributed to 168 students studying in various universities in India in a variety of academic fields. The research\'s conclusions gained significance on the effects that each of the six components has on academic success.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

Students today lack the knowledge necessary to manage their time effectively. While some students utilise their free time to study, complete schoolwork, and participate in other school activities, others spend it using technology, social media, and online gaming. The other half of their time is divided between various extracurricular and leisure activities. This study can shed light on how students' extracurricular activities affect their academic achievement. The purpose of the study is to look into how learners' academic performance is related to their leisure activities.

“Leisure as an activity helps people to keep themselves engaged in different activities during their free time". When someone pursues happiness, self-expression, and meaningful engagement in their free time, it is an activity that they themselves approve and find intrinsically compelling. In the current generation, we have come a long way and see a variety of other leisure activities that we can engage in that can develop us academically, personally, socially, recreationally, and culturally through and provide a secure, encouraging environment that gives a variety of possibilities. We have been able to engage ourselves in various leisure activities from a very young age, be it reading a book during our free time or going out and playing with our friends. Students participate in a variety of academic and extracurricular activities, therefore it's critical to comprehend how they prioritise and balance these activities in order to stay focused and maintain a healthy balance. One of the issues college students encounter most frequently is how distractions and difficulties can make it difficult for many students to concentrate on their academic achievement.

Leisure activities help to develop physical, mental, emotional and social competencies of an individual. There have been numerous research studies conducted on benefits of exercise for mental health by supporting the theory that exercise is conducive to enhancing positive emotion such as vigor, pleasure, and energy as well as decreasing anxiety, tension, tiredness and anger. Caldwell, L. L. (2005).  

This study has concentrated on several extracurricular activities that are popular among college and university students and their effects on academic outcomes. More particular, it looks into how participation in these activities affects students' GPAs and average grades. We looked at six categories of leisure activities, including dating (committed relationship, casual dating), reading (newspaper, research journal, blogs, fiction, non-fiction), socialising (whatsapp, instagram, linkedin), indoor activities (art & craft, online games, music), and physical activities (jogging, yoga, gyming, sports, dancing). We also observed and reviewed various other research papers as well as those written by our fellow students (shopping, spending time with friends and family, volunteering).

Leisure signifies individual choice to spend their discretionary time fulfilling certain interests or needs or performing gratifying experience for the sake of wellness or personal development (Alli, 2007; Barcelona 2002). It is believed that when a child is given free time to learn in his/her interest learning areas/centres, that child tends to be more creative which, in the other hand improve their academic performance. (Shalley, Zhou & Oldham, 2004).

Academic performance refers to how well a learner is accomplishing his/her task and studies ( Scortt, 2012). Academic performance refers to “how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish different tasks given to them by their teachers. It is also the ability to study and remember facts and being Able to communicate your knowledge verbally or down on paper” Also in order to understand the Academic performance we have taken the recent CGPA of the students in his or her particular institute they are studying in. 

It was concluded after examining and analysing multiple studies from various journals that increasing the amount of leisure time activities leads to improved concentration and a longer attention span as well as the potential for discontent. However, we have taken into account the six leisure activities listed above and have primarily focused our study on how it affects and influences a student's performance in the classroom. It has aided us in developing a clear grasp of how a student's daily life is impacted by their leisure time.

II. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1.  To understand the various leisure time activities that students engage in during their free time
2.  To analyse the relationship between leisure time activity and student academic performance
3. To analyse relationship between leisure activities and academics with gender as control variable

III. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

On reviewing and analysing various research papers we see how many papers have contradicting views on if leisure activities affect academic performance of a student in a positive or negative way. Also, previous studies have proven that extracurricular activities are beneficial in building and strengthening academic achievement even though these activities may not have any obvious relationship with academic. (Guest,A., & Schneider,B.(2003). Various articles focused on different leisure activities be it recreational, social media, engagement in indoor and outdoor activities. However, we have picked on and reviewed a few of them. It has been proposed that recreational activities are outlets for expression of excess energy which brings about satisfaction and pleasure to the participants without compulsion.  Roger (2005)  He also, opined that recreation creates a medium to express excess energy channelling such into socially acceptable activities that fulfil individual as well as societal needs, without need for compulsion, and providing satisfaction and pleasure for the participants. Roger (2005). Thus, we understand that recreational activities generates a positive energy and leads to satisfaction as well as a positive mindset.

On understanding how social media plays a role, it was observed that “Today's youth are confronted with a media environment that is rapidly changing. The time spent on social media, whether for the purpose of school-related or non-school related learning has influenced youths more than before” (Raj,2012). The internet and social networking websites seem to bring positive influence on adolescents as it allows them to express themselves in their own unique ways. (Boyd, 2007). Studies done by Carvin (2006 ) and Ogedebe (2012 ) found strong correlations of Internet access with academic performance. Both studies agreed that the use of Internet has improved students' academic performance as Internet assists them to have better preparation for exams. A study done by Kabre and Brown (2011 ) on the influence of Facebook usage on academic performance and the quality of life of college students reveals that the number of hours spent on Facebook influences both academic performance and the quality of life among the students.

 Several studies suggested that increased physical activity during the school time could induce arousal and lessen boredom, which lead to increase classroom concentration and attention span. (SHEPHARD RJ.) In addition to that, one study suggested that increased activity levels might be related to improve classroom behaviour as well as academic performance. Athletic participants score higher grades in school and have higher educational aspirations than non-participants have. (Marsh HW, Kleitman S). According to studies done by Darling, Caldwell, and Smith (2005 ), and Bashir and Hussain (2012), adolescents who participated in extracurricular activities are reported to achieve higher grades in their academic performance. Besides, they have more positive attitudes towards school, and have higher academic aspirations

Guthrie, Benneth & McGough, (2007) believe that “reading” is the act of getting meaning from printed or written words, which is the basis for learning and one of the most important skills in everyday life. (Issa et al 2012). The concentration reading is the most important type of reaching the desired outcome. It is the bedrock and the result oriented reading which makes for achievement (Ogbodo, 2010). It means that through reading, the individual is able to build or fix things, enjoy stories, discover what others believe and develop ideas or beliefs of their own. Thus, reading provides the key to all forms of information necessary for our day-to-day survival and growth.

Perhaps, due to lack of good reading habits among students, academic performance with respect to their examination result has been dismal nowadays creating a great source of worry and concern for all stakeholders in the educational sub-sector (Issa et al, 2012) “Laws die but books never.” Indeed, books are the most suitable medium through which knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation (Issa et al, 2012).

During the Covid-19,disease containment measures like social isolation have enabled families to spend more time together. Many Parents have reported increased sense of closeness and intimacy with their children. (Nazish Imran, Muhammad Zeshan,and Zainab Pervaiz, 2020). A very recent Canadian National Survey on the Impact of the COVID-19 virus outbreak on movement and play behaviors of Canadian children and youth concluded that as a result of stay-home policies during the pandemic and limited access to sports-recreational facilities, families tried to create new hobbies and activities for maintaining healthy movement habits . Precisely, parents reported that children were more involved in indoor activities, like household chores and activities including dance and physical education exercises, and outdoor activities, like riding a bicycle, walking, playing badminton, street basketball and hockey . The same study established that parental encouragement and co-participation were associated with increases in both indoor and outdoor physical activity . Our results clearly support such considerations, even for adolescents from southeastern Europe.( Barb.ara Gilic ,Ljerka Ostojic ,Marin Corluka  , Tomislav Volaric  and Damir Sekulic,2020) . The above source clearly states that after the event of pandemic there is an increase in the rate of engagement in indoor activities among youth and children.

From an economic viewpoint, time devoted to dating can be analysed either as a cost for individuals who are searching to marry, or reciprocally as a consumption good for dating consumers, insofar as this activity provides in itself satisfaction. In the first case, the cost can be both explicit, subscriptions to an online site or restaurant expenses for example, and implicit (since time spent on dating cannot be devoted to paid work (it is leisure time). In the second case, dating is consumption good, a form of leisure. (Véronique Flambard, Nicolas Gérard Vaillant, François-Charles Wolff.2010). For instance, German adolescents, who are comparable to Dutch adolescents, also spend the largest proportion of their leisure time on television, computer games, and dating. (Flammer & Schaffner, 2003; Larson & Seepersad, 2003; Larson & Verma, 1999). It has been observed that dating behaviour among Nigerian youths constitute a very high problem in their psycho-social development including health and academic (Akindele-Oscar, 2014; Ayodele, 2014)

IV. RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY

A structured self-developed questionnaire is designed to collect information and to achieve  the objective of the survey. The research is a Quantitative research.  The questionnaire prepared for the survey consists of five broad sections which cover the basic  demographic profile of every individual customer and Factors Affecting Consumers' Intention to Buy Smart Watches among Indian youth: (Brand, Health Consciousness, Societal influence, Cost, Operational imperfections),   The questionnaire is a close ended type containing Multiple Choice Que