Exploring the correlation of the use of leisure time and volunteering among young people in Hungary
Veronika Bocsi – Hajnalka Fényes – Valéria Markos
Abstract
International literature, on the one hand, reveals issues related to theoryl and definitions in connecting leisure time and volunteering; on the other hand, it does not examine the correlations between the types of leisure activities of young people and the chance of volunteering. Our premise is that volunteering and free time are interconnected elements of the lifestyle, even if the positions of researchers differ on the direction of this connection. The aim of the study is to examine what factors form young people's volunteering habitsand what is the role of leisure time in this system. In our study, we explore the factors affecting the chances of volunteering among the young in Hungary, with particular focus on the impact of leisure activities. Our empirical analysis is based on the research" Hungarian Youth 2020", which represents the 15-29 age group in a probability sample of 2,000 participants. First, we outlined the types of leisure activities with an exploratory factor analysis, and then entered the obtained leisure factors to the standard explanatory factors found in the literature into our regression model explaining the chance of volunteering. According to our results, in accordance with the "cultural omnivore " theory, two " culturally omnivorous" factors can be identified, with the emphasis on high culture or on recreation, but they do not completely separate the two dimensions. According to our regression model, the chance of volunteering is higher for women if they have savings, if the father is education on a primary or secondary level, and finally, with higher values of the "entertainment-oriented cultural omnivore" factor. This shows that volunteering and leisure activities are not clearly complementary phenomena, and the reason that the chance of volunteering is increased by the recreation factor may be that the volunteer activities and fun-oriented leisure time of today's youth are primarily motivated and characterized by their l-community nature. The conclusion of our analysis is that community and recreational elements can be particularly important when planning programs for the young cohort and promoting volunteering.
Keywords: young people in Hungary, factors affecting volunteering, types of leisure activities, quantitative study