Development of the Leisure Activity Scale for young adults: Reliability and validity

Previous studies have documented the beneficial effects of leisure activities on mental health. However, limited methods or scales are available to measure leisure activities for the evaluation of mental health or the intervention of mental disorders, and data on the therapeutic benefits of leisure activities for mental health are scarce. Furthermore, few studies have investigated the effects of leisure activities on the mental health of young individuals. Therefore, we developed the Leisure Activity Scale (LAS; a 7-item, 5-point scale) to assess the leisure activities of young adults, and aimed to confirm its reliability and validity.

This study involved 551 Japanese participants aged 18-25 years and was conducted through an online survey from September to November 2022. Reliability of the LAS was assessed through internal consistency analysis. To determine convergent and discriminant validity, the LAS was compared with various scales measuring psychometric properties, including depression, anxiety, work fatigue recovery, resilience, neuroticism, emotion regulation, well-being, and ill-being.

Factor analysis indicated that the 7-item LAS was the most appropriate measure for use in mental health (Cronbach's α coefficient = 0.756). Total LAS7 scores positively correlated with recovery experience, resilience, emotion regulation, and well-being, and negatively correlated with state anxiety. These were all weak correlations, with correlation coefficients of less than 0.3. Total LAS7 scores did not correlate with trait anxiety, neuroticism, or ill-being.

Our results demonstrated the reliability of the LAS, but its convergent validity was insufficient. The LAS can comprehensively assess leisure activities, although further improvement regarding its validity is needed.