Activity‐specific barriers to recreation participation

Abstract This paper represents a contribution to the small but growing body of literature that directly examines reasons for nonparticipation or barriers to participation in recreation. Unlike most previous studies, in which the emphasis has been on the attributes of nonparticipants, the present study examines differences in barriers among nine categories of recreational and leisure activity. Nonparticipants are defined as those people who identify a recreational activity in which they would like to participate but currently do not participate. Fifteen specific barriers are examined, including time, money, opportunity, knowledge, ability, overcrowding, lack of partners, shyness, and lack of transportation. Barriers to participation that are both most important to and best discriminate between groups of survey respondents defined according to their recreational desires are identified.