Negotiating Constraints to Women's Physical Recreation

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Abstract
The purpose of this project was to examine how constraints to women's participation in physical recreation were negotiated. Physical recreation was defined as freely chosen, enjoyable experiences which involved gross body movement and were described as sport, exercise, fitness, dance, or outdoor activities. By using two sets of qualitative data that addressed adult female participation and nonparticipation in physical recreation activities, typologies emerged concerning the ways constraints were negotiated: achievers, attempters, compromisers, dabblers, and quitters/defaulters. These typologies were depicted in a model that showed how women responded to their constraints, their resistance to constraints, and the perceived benefits versus costs that were associated with physical recreation participation. The results have implications for examining trends in the negotiation of physical recreation for further understanding the leisure and sport behavior of women.