Empirical Linkages Between Serious Leisure and Recreational Specialization

This article explores linkages between four qualities of serious leisure (identity, perseverance, career, significant effort) and two facets of recreational specialization (personal commitment and behavioral commitment). Using data collected in a study of members of the American Birding Association, the six dimensions were strongly correlated with one another and made up a single dimension of what we describe as seriousness. Our results support our contention that qualities of serious leisure and recreational specialization may be measuring the same thing. We argue that dimensions of the recreational specialization and serious leisure frameworks may be combined to provide a more complete assessment of people’s participation in birdwatching and other complex forms of leisure.