The Pay-Offs to Sociability: Do solitary and social leisure relate to happiness?

Victoria Reyes-García; Ricardo A. Godoy; Vincent Vadez; Isabel Ruíz-Mallén; Tomás Huanca; William R. Leonard; Thomas W. McDade; Susan Tanner; Bolivian Study Team TAPS Bolivian Study Team

doi:10.1007/s12110-009-9073-5

The Pay-Offs to Sociability: Do solitary and social leisure relate to happiness?

Victoria Reyes-García^*, Ricardo A. Godoy, Vincent Vadez, Isabel Ruíz-Mallén, Tomás Huanca, William R. Leonard, Thomas W. McDade, Susan Tanner, Bolivian Study Team TAPS Bolivian Study Team

^*Corresponding author for this work

Anthropology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Previous research addressing the association between leisure and happiness has given rise to the hypothesis that informal social activities might contribute more to happiness than solitary activities. In the current study, we tested how the two types of leisure-social and solitary-contribute to a person's subjective sense of well-being. For the empirical estimate, we used four consecutive quarters of data collected from 533 people over the age of 16, from 13 Tsimane' hunter-farmer villages in the Bolivian Amazon. Results suggest that only social, not solitary, leisure has a positive and statistically significant association with subjective well-being. The association between solitary leisure and subjective well-being was negligible or negative. Future research should focus on emic definitions of social and solitary time, for solitary time might not always be equivalent to leisure and productive group activities might substitute for social leisure.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	431-446
Number of pages	16
Journal	Human Nature
Volume	20
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-009-9073-5
State	Published - Oct 2009

Keywords

Happiness
Leisure
Scan observations
Tsimane' (Bolivia)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Anthropology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Sociology and Political Science

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10.1007/s12110-009-9073-5

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title = "The Pay-Offs to Sociability: Do solitary and social leisure relate to happiness?",

abstract = "Previous research addressing the association between leisure and happiness has given rise to the hypothesis that informal social activities might contribute more to happiness than solitary activities. In the current study, we tested how the two types of leisure-social and solitary-contribute to a person's subjective sense of well-being. For the empirical estimate, we used four consecutive quarters of data collected from 533 people over the age of 16, from 13 Tsimane' hunter-farmer villages in the Bolivian Amazon. Results suggest that only social, not solitary, leisure has a positive and statistically significant association with subjective well-being. The association between solitary leisure and subjective well-being was negligible or negative. Future research should focus on emic definitions of social and solitary time, for solitary time might not always be equivalent to leisure and productive group activities might substitute for social leisure.",

keywords = "Happiness, Leisure, Scan observations, Tsimane' (Bolivia)",

author = "Victoria Reyes-Garc{\'i}a and Godoy, {Ricardo A.} and Vincent Vadez and Isabel Ru{\'i}z-Mall{\'e}n and Tom{\'a}s Huanca and Leonard, {William R.} and McDade, {Thomas W.} and Susan Tanner and {TAPS Bolivian Study Team}, {Bolivian Study Team}",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgments Research was funded by a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Gr-7250) and grants from the cultural anthropology program of the National Science Foundation (BCS-0134225 and BCS-0322380). We thank L. Apaza, E. Conde, J. D{\'a}vila, H. Rivas, Y. Lobo, P. Pache, E. Tayo, S. Cari, J. Cari, M. Roca, D. Pache, J. Pache, and V. Cuata for help collecting the information and logistical support. Thanks go to James Broesch, Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ian Fitzpatrick, Andrew Gerkey, Peter Giovannini, Ma Ruth Mart{\'i}nez-Rodr{\'i}guez, Jos{\'e} Luis Molina, and Melanie Vento for comments to a previous version and to ICRISAT-Patancheru for providing Reyes-Garc{\'i}a with office facilities.",

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AU - Reyes-García, Victoria

AU - Godoy, Ricardo A.

AU - Vadez, Vincent

AU - Ruíz-Mallén, Isabel

AU - Huanca, Tomás

AU - Leonard, William R.

AU - McDade, Thomas W.

AU - Tanner, Susan

AU - TAPS Bolivian Study Team, Bolivian Study Team

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments Research was funded by a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Gr-7250) and grants from the cultural anthropology program of the National Science Foundation (BCS-0134225 and BCS-0322380). We thank L. Apaza, E. Conde, J. Dávila, H. Rivas, Y. Lobo, P. Pache, E. Tayo, S. Cari, J. Cari, M. Roca, D. Pache, J. Pache, and V. Cuata for help collecting the information and logistical support. Thanks go to James Broesch, Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ian Fitzpatrick, Andrew Gerkey, Peter Giovannini, Ma Ruth Martínez-Rodríguez, José Luis Molina, and Melanie Vento for comments to a previous version and to ICRISAT-Patancheru for providing Reyes-García with office facilities.

PY - 2009/10

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N2 - Previous research addressing the association between leisure and happiness has given rise to the hypothesis that informal social activities might contribute more to happiness than solitary activities. In the current study, we tested how the two types of leisure-social and solitary-contribute to a person's subjective sense of well-being. For the empirical estimate, we used four consecutive quarters of data collected from 533 people over the age of 16, from 13 Tsimane' hunter-farmer villages in the Bolivian Amazon. Results suggest that only social, not solitary, leisure has a positive and statistically significant association with subjective well-being. The association between solitary leisure and subjective well-being was negligible or negative. Future research should focus on emic definitions of social and solitary time, for solitary time might not always be equivalent to leisure and productive group activities might substitute for social leisure.

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The Pay-Offs to Sociability: Do solitary and social leisure relate to happiness?

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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