HEDONIC AND EUDAIMONIC MOTIVES FOR FAVOURITE LEISURE ACTIVITIES

Many theories and models try to explain why people engage in different leisure activities, mainly focusing on different needs that can be satisfied through leisure and motives for engagement. Staying in this vein of research, current study compared hedonic and eudaimonic motives for favourite leisure activities. The participants were 422 students (26.12% male), with mean age 20.55, that rated hedonic and eudaimonic motives for their favourite activity. Activities were grouped into seven categories based on their nature: reading, artistic activities, sports, media and music, socialising, dancing and outdoor activities. Hedonic motives are more pronounced than eudaimonic motives for reading, electronic media and music, socialising, outdoor activities and dancing. Reading, artistic activities, sports and dancing are more eudaimonically motivated than electronic media and music, socialising and outdoor activities. There are no differences between activities in hedonic motives. In order to see if a type of activity moderates the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic motives, the activities were grouped in two more general categories: entertainment and active leisure. The results have shown that type of activity moderates the relationship between motives: hedonic and eudaimonic motives are more strongly related for the active leisure than for the entertainment.