ABSTRACT

Depression and psychological distress have high incidence rates among young people. Leisure is a known determinant of health and well-being and can help mitigate these phenomena through a variety of mechanisms. While it is known that sport and exercise provide benefits for neurological functioning, leisure has received less attention as a means of mobilising social networks and cultivating relatedness, a known factor protecting mental health. From a sample of 891 young adults in Switzerland, we grouped twenty online and offline leisure activities into seven different dimensions, testing their associations with perceptions of support from relatives and friends (relatedness), and with a composite index of psychological distress. Our results help to determine those face-to-face experiences, such as sport and social activities, that most help to cultivate support through close ties, which in turn seems to make them important for increased levels of mental health. The results indicate that screen-based leisure activities do not promote relatedness. However, psychological distress is linked with only some forms of media-based leisure, such as online chatting, presumably because depressive moods lead to networks being mobilised through online engagement rather than face-to-face interactions.

摘要

年轻人中抑郁和心理困扰的发生率很高。休闲是健康和福祉的已知决定因素，可以通过多种机制帮助缓解这些现象。虽然众所周知，体育锻炼有助于神经系统功能的发展，但是休闲作为一种动员社会网络和培养亲密关系的手段却很少受到关注，后者是保护心理健康的已知因素。我们从瑞士的891名年轻人中抽样，将20种在线和离线休闲活动分为七个不同维度，通过亲戚和朋友的支持感（亲戚关系）以及心理困扰综合指数来测试他们的关联。我们的结果有助于确定这些面对面的体验，例如体育和社交活动，最有助于通过紧密联系来获得支持，这反过来似乎使它们对于提高心理健康水平具有重要意义。结果表明，基于屏幕的休闲活动不会促进相关性。但是，心理困扰仅与某些形式的基于媒体的休闲活动有关，例如在线聊天，大概是因为抑郁的情绪导致通过在线互动而不是面对面的互动来调动网络。