ABSTRACT
This study is to probe into leisure sports consumption of urban residents of Hunan and it is very important to understand the leisure sports consumption of urban residents and promote the economic development. An investigation of leisure sports consumption of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood of Changsha is conducted through literature, questionnaire, mathematical statistics and interviews. By acquisition and analysis of data, the results show that the big differences in leisure sports consumption of residents arise from the individual factors. The significant differences in consumption awareness and concept of leisure sports among residents of different occupations arise from different cultural level and approved attitude of leisure sports consumption. This study show that it will play the guiding role in further improvement in physical fitness and sports consumption of urban residents in Hunan province and the direction of sports market and provide the feasible approach and basis for the healthy and lasting development of the popular sport.
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DOI: 10.3923/jas.2013.1397.1401
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=jas.2013.1397.1401
INTRODUCTION
The sports consumption is a part of the consumption of modern social life and the process that the residents consume certain consumption means and services to meet the sporting needs. On the one hand, it is the natural process that the residents maintain their own survival and development, such as, fitness and bodybuilding of residents, exercise and coach and health counseling, watching sports and performances and making use of sports information, etc., on the other hand, it is also a social process occurred under certain social relations, which is realized through sports consumption structure, sports consumption level and sports consumption means (Yu, 2005).
In 2011 the State Council issued the notice on the issuance of the National Fitness Program (2011-2015). The program proposes that the urban and rural residents awareness of fitness should be further enhanced, the number of persons participation in physical exercise should be significantly increased. It also shows that physical fitness should be improved significantly by 2015 in order that the public service system of national fitness throughout the urban and rural should be formed (Feng, 2000). National fitness is related to masses enjoying good health and happy life and the important indicator of the comprehensive national strength and social civilization and progress and the important content of the social construction of spiritual civilization and an important part of building a moderately prosperous society.
With the high-speed development of the social productive forces and material wealth, more and more leisure time is access to persons of modern society. More and more persons actively participate in activities of leisure sports for entertainment and health promotion so as to relieve stress and reduce fatigue. Leisure sports consumption has gradually been the distinctive characteristics of economic strength and the degree of social progress in a well-off society and a new way of life for the modern people (Chunwang, 2004). In recent years, the leisure sports consumption has been a hot topic in the field of economic research in China, which expound that the leisure sports is of significance to the national fitness and leisure sports consumption. With the increase in national income, sports consumption has also been an important part in the mass consumption and the demands for sports consumption are rapidly increased (Jun, 2001).
Research on the status of leisure sports consumption of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood of Changsha aims at providing scientific guidance of leisure activities for urban residents in Hunan province and also providing a reference for the future development of leisure sports consumption market in Hunan province. It will play a guiding role in further enhancing the residents physical fitness and sports consumption level as well as the input direction of the sports market. As a result, a virtuous cycle is formed between leisure sports and market so as to make the modest contribution to the lasting and healthy development of mass sports.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Research objects: Taking residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood of Yuhua District, Changsha as an object of study.
Research methods
Literature and data: This study consults the latest monographs, papers and journals on leisure sports consumption in libraries of Changsha. It is these data to ensure the reliability of this study.
Questionnaire: The questionnaire is designed on the base of the question for discussion and the relevant experts are invited to review and analyze and necessary supplements and amendments are conducted according to experts opinion to form the formal questionnaire. The questionnaires are circulated to residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood of Yuhua District, Changsha. Four hundred questionnaires are given out and all questionnaires are recycled, 356 questionnaire are valid and valid efficiency is 89%.
Testing of reliability of the questionnaire: Re-test is adopted to test the reliability of questionnaire. The second investigation of the original questionnaire will be conducted after questionnaire is conducted 10 days later. One-time indicators of R = 0.928, p<0.05 is measured. The results of questionnaire fully meet the standard required by surveying.
Validity of the questionnaire: The questionnaire for this study is finally confirmed through the repeated revision and integration after two rounds questionnaires by 12 experts. Ten persons think that the questionnaires are very valid, accounting for 83%, two persons think that the questionnaires are valid, accounting for 17%. As a result, the questionnaire is highly valid in content.
Interview: The respondents are interviewed according to the content of this article and the requirements for the designed questionnaire and the obtained information is used to refer for these papers.
Mathematical statistics: The collected literature and the surveyed data are handled with conventional way by using SPSS10.0 package. The current situation of the consumption of leisure sports of residents is analyzed with these objective data and the relationship between the consumption of leisure sports and leisure sports industry is analyzed with multi perspective.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
With the deepening of Chinas economic reform and the gradual establishment and improvement in the socialist market economy, demands for sports are growing and sports consumption has been an important part of modern life consumption, which mainly refers to personal consumption expenditures in physical fitness activities (Wenren, 2001).
Cognition of leisure sports of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood of Changsha
Values of leisure sports: Sports values refers to a comprehensive evaluation of the presence of sports by self-centered society and individual and the value orientation of sports (Hongfeng and Peng, 2007).
Table 1 shows that 73.5% residents in Lemon Lido Neighborhood of Changsha select leisure, only 23.6% residents select healthcare.
The survey results show that the main orientation of values of leisure sports of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood is consistent with the orientation of values of physical fitness, leisure and entertainment so as to satisfy the needs of the peoples spiritual and cultural life.
Leisure way: Findings from Table 2 show that the leisure way of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood focus on watching TV, reading newspapers, fitness and entertainment. Overall, whether men or women, the old or the young, the main leisure way in actual life is the dominating type, that is, watching TV. Because people do not have much free time or energy to select favorite leisure way in the everyday life according to their own wishes and only watch TV under the existing conditions to relax body and mind and regulate life (Jialin and Xinde, 2006).
Table 1: | Values of leisure sports of residents in Lemon Lido Neighborhood of Changsha (n = 356) (multiple-choice) |
Table 2: | List of cultural life of leisure of residents of Lemon Lido n = 356 (multiple-choice) |
Table 3: | List of the venues of leisure and sports of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood (n=356) |
Table 4: | List of the form of leisure sports activities of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood (%) (n=356) |
Status of leisure sport of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood
Venues of leisure and sports of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood: Table 3 shows that 38.9% of the residents select free leisure activities in Changsha, 32.4% of the residents usually exercise in their own courtyard or indoor, 15.4% of the residents exercise in charged venues and 13.3% of the residents exercise in the park fitness.
Form of leisure sports activities of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood: Table 4 shows that male residents in Lemon Lido Neighborhood of Changsha select together with friends and 30.8% female residents select it.
The findings from above table show that there is little difference between the sexes with respect to the form of leisure sports activities of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood, focusing on engaging in activities with friends or in person. There are obvious differences between age groups. Those whose ages are between 16-25 years old engage in activities with friends and residents whose ages are more than 46 year old tend to engage in activities alone.
Items of leisure sports of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood: Table 5 shows that residents below 25 years old in Lemon Lido Neighborhood of Changsha like football, basketball, volleyball, 35.3% residents between 26-35 years old like small ball, such as badminton, 32.3% residents between 26-35 years old like small ball, such as badminton, 23.1% residents between 46-55 years old like swimming and 58.3% residents more than 56 years old like gateball, Tai Ji.
The content of leisure sports activities of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood is very rich. The survey results show that there are significant differences in various sports activities between the young and the old. Overall, the young tend to participate in football, basketball and volleyball and the persons participating in small ball, such as badminton tend to be getting old and the middle-aged and the old mainly participate in sport, such as, Gateball,Tai Ji.
Table 5: | List of the leisure sports content residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood participate (n=356) |
Table 6: | Consumption structure of leisure sports of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood (%) (n = 356) |
Consumption structure of leisure sports of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood: Consumption of leisure sports is an important part of modern society. Table 6 refers to the current situation of sports consumption of urban residents of Changsha.
Table 6 shows that the consumption expenditure of leisure sports of residents of lemon lido neighborhood focus on consumption of material object. Purchasing sports clothing and shoes and sports equipment accounts for 35.6% and newspapers and books accounts for 24.3%, both accounts for more than 50% and watching the performances accounts for 17.2%. Those who are really willing to participate in the charged activities and accept training are less than 25% and even a small number of respondents choose the other. This result suggests that the concept of sports consumption of residents of lemon lido neighborhood has not been fundamentally transformed and few persons are really willing to spend money on physical exercise. Only 15.4% of the residents in this survey are willing to go to the charged place to engage in physical exercise.
Factors affecting consumption of leisure sports of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood
Activity place: Seen from the findings of leisure sports consumption of residents of lemon lido neighborhood, activity place is a primary issue, more than half of the residents think that it is inconvenient to participate in activities in the charged places. In recent years, some stadium facilities are constructed in Changsha, the construction of facilities relatively drops behind, compared with the increasing mass sports fitness.
Table 7: | Time list of participation in leisure sports activities of residents of Lemon Lido Neighborhood (%) n = 356 |
The vast majority of residents choose free activities, such as parks and neighborhood, which is related to the living environment of residents and lack of stadiums.
Partners in sport: The majority of residents think that the main reason affecting their participation in leisure and sports activities is lack of exercise partners, especially in terms of ball games, some persons find it difficult to find the satisfactory movement partners.
Leisure time: Leisure time is also one of the important factors affecting residents participation in sports activities.
Findings from Table 7 shows that few persons participate in leisure sports activities more than 1 h, however, only each activity must meet a certain amount of time, can leisure sports achieve the function of health care. In general, the time they participate in sports activities is more than 30 min. But the survey results show that most residents can not meet the minimum time of activities. With respect to the major occupations listed in Table 7, less than half of the persons meet the minimum time of activities. Students, corporate officers and civil servants even think that they have less time for leisure sports activities, the main reason is that learning and work almost occupy most of the time during the day.
Economic development is the most critical factor promoting leisure sports consumption. It can be seen from Table 7 that the per capita number of consumption is getting more and more with Chinas economic development and the growing per capita GDP. With the increase in income, the proportion of food consumption in residents overall consumption spending, i.e., Engel coefficient is getting small. With the improvement of living standards, the percentage of residents leisure sports consumption is gradually increasing. From the perspective of development, the high consumption of sports will develop on certain scale.
Concept of sports consumption: The so-called concept refers to the objective things reacted in the brain, belonging to the scope of ideology and values is subjects needs reacted in the brain (Chen and Deng, 2011). Sports values is the fundamental concept of the existence and development of social phenomena that people evaluate sports by taking their own needs as the yardstick and the concrete manifestation and clear expression of sports consciousness. Peoples sports values is associated with human needs and motivation of activities, affecting sporting attitude, sports emotion and sports behavior, which is directly reflected in the purpose of participation in physical exercise (Al-Bakry and Shukur, 2011).
Leisure and sports activities and consumption behavior are guided by media, such as newspapers, magazines, television and network. Social and media will have certain impact on residents participation in leisure sports by publicity and evaluation of leisure sports. However, Chinas traditional concept of consumption focuses on material consumption. As a result, the sports administration department and social propaganda media must first help people establish a good sports concept in order to guide behavior of sports consumer and thus have an impact on peoples concept of leisure sports.
CONCLUSION
The concept of leisure sports consumption of residents of neighborhood still focus on leisure and physical fitness, accounting for more than 50% of the surveyed. The motivation in entertainment and fitness of leisure sports consumption of residents is the means and manifestation of improvement in the quality of life:
• | As to residents choice of leisure sports venues, 38.9% of the residents choose free leisure activities, 32.4% of the residents usually engage in activities in their own patio or indoor. Those engage in activities in the charged place accounts for only 15.4 and 13.3% of the residents exercise in the park |
• | As to the form of residents participation in leisure sports consumption, the majority of people like to conduct exercise with friends, accounting for 58.6% of the total number, the next is exercise with his family and sports activities organized by units, respectively accounting for 23.2 and 18.2%. The items of participation in leisure sports consumption is generally less expensive items of easy implementation |
• | The spending of leisure sports of the majority of persons is less than 500 Yuan, belonging to the middle and low level, mainly focusing on sports consumption in kind. If those have economic condition to participate in leisure sports, however, leisure time is one of the important factors impeding residents to participate in sports activities. The survey results show that few engage in leisure sports activities for more than 1 h, accounting for only 19.8% of the total number. With respect to the major occupations surveyed, students, corporate officers and civil servants even think that they have less time for leisure sports activities, the main reason is that learning and work almost occupy most of the time during the day |
Proposal:
• | The change of quality of leisure sports activities firstly depends on improvement in the publics own understanding of the leisure sports activities. Only the public attaches importance to leisure sports consumption, participate in leisure sports activities with a positive attitude and makes leisure sports enter their own life and spiritual world, can the leisure life be enriched to obtain a high level of development and enjoyment |
• | It is necessary for improving sports consumption and the sports consumption level of urban residents to perfect sports market, unearth sports resources, strengthen the close integration of sports and media, emphasize the publicity role of media on sports consumption, strengthen urban planning and construction of community sports facilities |
• | Various forms will be adopted to promote the establishment of residents concept of demands for leisure sports, to encourage residents to use their leisure time to participate in leisure sports consumption. It is emphasized that leisure sports consumption can not only improve the health status of the people and enhance people's ability to work, but also extend the life of the people and work longer hours, increase human capital, thereby increasing the total income of the residents and improving the total utility |
• | Administrative departments should strengthen the management and development of the sports market, actively promote the launching of the National Fitness, constantly enrich the content of the services of the sports venues, improve service quality. In addition to encouragement social forces and fostering consumer market of leisure sports for different levels of consumer groups, the government should increase investment in the development of professional social sports instructors while improving the leisure sports facilities and provide funding support for them launch activities in the streets |
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