Analysis of family shared leisure time in early childhood and their relation with parental competencies

Abstract

Family leisure activities require both parental interaction and supervision. This research involved 488 parents of children between 3 and 8 years old from public schools of early childhood and primary education at Gran Canaria, one of the Eastern Canary Islands (Spain); the aim was to analyze the shared leisure in family and its connection with parental competencies. The instruments used in the study were two 6-point Likert scales that measured family leisure activities and parental competencies. The results indicated that mothers, more often than fathers, are still the ones who do more leisure activities with their children, except for both the activities with video games and the sporting events. Four types of family shared leisure activities were found as well: recreational, digital, physical-sporting activities and spending free time with family and friends. The digital activities were shared less often in family. Finally, families with more parental competencies shared more leisure time.