Leisure Behavior of Young People: Education-Oriented Activities Becoming Increasingly Prevalent

Young people's leisure activities are significantly different today than they were ten years ago. The obvious use of communication and entertainment electronics, such as cell phones, computers, and games consoles is only one aspect - there are also less visible changes: informal activities such as meeting with friends are being increasingly sidelined by education-oriented activities like extra-curricular music lessons or sports. These are the findings of a study conducted by DIW Berlin based on longitudinal data from the statistically representative Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). It shows that education-oriented leisure activities feature in the lives of over 60 percent of all 16-year-olds. Ten years ago, this only applied to 48 percent of all young people of this age. The demand for education- oriented activities has increased across all social classes. Nevertheless, clearly identifiable social differences still remain. Young people from socially underprivileged households are therefore at a double disadvantage, since less favorable conditions at home are compounded in school and during leisure time. Policy-makers have already recognized the need to act here and are attempting to reduce persisting inequalities in leisure activities, for example, by expanding all-day schooling and promoting education-oriented leisure activities specifically for children from low-income families.