Comparing high school and college students' leisure interests and stress ratings

We compared a large high school area sample with normative data from prior research with college students on the Leisure Interests Checklist (LIC) factor scales, and on the BAROMAS. Whether combined or separated by sex, the college sample displayed far more interest in the LIC activities than the high school students (all P << 0.001). On the BAROMAS, differences were more complex. The teenagers expressed more confidence about dismissing time pressures, sleeping soundly and finding time to do sports, but college students were more confident about falling asleep and sticking to set priorities. The high school data replicated the previous pattern of LIC x BAROMAS relationships, with most scales significantly inter-correlated within inventories, but mainly the sports scales covarying across the two inventories. Numerous differences between the sexes emerged from the high school student sample.