Shintaro Kono

Shintaro Kono
University of Alberta | UAlberta · Faculty of Kinesiology Sport and Recreation

Doctor of Philosophy

About

62
Publications
23,874
Reads
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556
Citations
Introduction
My two main areas of research are: (a) leisure and subjective well-being and (b) leisure constraints. I have used a mix of both qualitative methods (e.g., interview, photo-elicitation, grounded theory) and quantitative methods (e.g., surveys, experience sampling, SEM, HLM). I also do mixed methods research.
Additional affiliations
July 2019 - June 2023
University of Alberta
Position
  • Professor (Assistant)
Education
May 2013 - December 2017
University of Alberta
Field of study
  • Leisure Studies
September 2011 - December 2012
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Field of study
  • Recreation, Sports, and Tourism

Publications

Publications (62)
Article
Despite the increased recognition of leisure’s significance, there remains a general lack of understanding about which aspects or types of leisure contribute to higher levels of subjective and eudaimonic wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to examine how diverse aspects of leisure, such as free time availability, leisure activity participation...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: Ikigai is a Japanese concept of a life worth living and related to eudaimonic well-being. Supporting the pursuit of ikigai is of central importance to recovery-oriented psychiatric rehabilitation for people with serious mental illnesses (SMI). While research suggests that work, leisure, and social relationships are potential sources of i...
Article
Full-text available
BACKGROUND: Researchers argue that employment positively affects the well-being of people with serious mental illness. However, empirical studies have provided limited support for these hypotheses. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate perceptions of employment in relation to the meaning and purpose of life, an important aspect of well-being,...
Article
Leisure education (LE) is designed to help foster positive leisure attitudes , identify leisure constraints and opportunities, and develop leisure skills and knowledge. Although LE is effective in many populations , its delivery has been predominantly in-person. We conducted an experimental study of a fully online LE intervention (ONLEI) with 96 un...
Article
Leisure education (LE) is a purposeful intervention that can enhance quality of leisure experiences and well-being. University students can benefit from LE because many encounter mental health challenges. There are no LE interventions specifically designed for university students. Thus, this study’s purpose is to identify areas of LE to enhance men...
Article
Full-text available
Leisure education (LE) is a common approach to enhance people’s well-being. Yet, no systematic review exists that synthesizes LE studies, identifies gaps in the literature, and suggests future research directions. Using an integrative review design, we conducted data-base and hand searches as well as systematic applications of exclusion and inclusi...
Article
Subjective well-being (SWB) of university students is an important topic as mental health issues are common among them. Especially, Chinese international students may encounter heightened stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic along with anti-Asian hate crimes. Basic Psychological Need Theory suggests the satisfaction of autonomy, competen...
Article
Sport spectators often enjoy violence in sport games they attend. Our research note attempts to provide an examination of how violence in National Hockey League (NHL) games, specifically fighting, impacts regular season attendance as a percentage of its capacity. Furthermore, we look to understand if there are differences in this relationship betwe...
Article
Full-text available
Leisure engagement, especially sports experiences, has been identified as a robust predictor of subjective well-being (SWB). Two aspects of SWB are hedonic well-being (HWB) and eudaimonic well-being (EWB). HWB emphasizes pleasure and positive affect, whereas EWB involves meaning, purpose, and virtue. The majority of empirical leisure and sports stu...
Article
Research on leisure and subjective well-being has focused on hedonic well-being (e.g., positive affect). Leisure’s relationships with eudaimonic well-being (e.g., meaning) remains underexplored. The literature also lacks non-Western perspectives. This study examined leisure’s relations with shiawase and ikigai, Japanese concepts that represent hedo...
Article
Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is a multivariate statistical technique that helps examine complex relationships among a number of variables. Although its use has increased over decades, PLS-SEM remains underutilized in leisure research. The purpose of this methodological paper is to offer a primer on PLS-SEM for leisur...
Article
Many studies have examined the relationships between leisure and subjective well-being. However, eudaimonic (e.g. meaning) and non-Western perspectives are lacking. Moreover, comparing leisure with other life domains could clarify leisure's unique roles in the pursuit of well-being. This study explores leisure's relationships with ikigai, a Japanes...
Article
Guided by the affect valuation theory, this study examined the relationships among tourism ideal affect (i.e. how people want to feel at tourism destinations), tourism actual affect (i.e. how people really feel at tourism destinations), and tourism satisfaction. Online surveys were conducted before and after travel, and 418 Japanese adults provided...
Article
Full-text available
This case study reports the effects of viewing nature photographs with classical music on participants’ tranquility levels among 10 memory care residents living with dementia. This study utilized a pre-/post-design with residents’ rating their tranquility level and a certified Nurse Aid observer rating each resident’s perceived tranquility level bo...
Article
Although leisure’s relationships with well-being have been widely studied, the literature lacks non-Western and eudaimonic perspectives. Moreover, leisure researchers have often focused exclusively on leisure. This leaves leisure’s impacts on well-being compared to other life domains understudied. The purpose of this study is to identify various so...
Article
Leisure experience has particularly positive impacts on people’s health and well-being when it is perceived as meaningful. Research also suggests that mental health conditions, such as depression, inhibit people from deriving meaningfulness from their leisure. However, it remains underexplored what in depression has this negative effect on leisure-...
Article
Although identified in the definition of leisure constraints, leisure enjoyment has been rarely studied as an outcome of constraints and constraint negotiation. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to examine the associations among leisure constraints, constraint negotiation, and enjoyment, within the context of leisure-time physical activity (...
Article
Full-text available
Context: There is currently little research using short duration activities like a six-minute nature-based video with classical music to assist in improving tranquility levels of individuals with dementia. Previous studies have shown that the combined use of a nature-based video with music has improved the tranquility levels of individuals with dem...
Article
Although research identifies both leisure and paid work as important contributors to subjective well-being (SWB), the mechanisms by which they do so remain understudied especially in non-Western contexts. A framework relevant to both leisure and work is basic psychological need theory, which posits that satisfaction of autonomy, relatedness, and co...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this study was to examine whether walking on a World Heritage pilgrimage route, Kumano Kodo, provided tourists with awe-inspiring experiences. An open-ended questionnaire survey was conducted for participants in the masters sport event (i.e., the Nenrinpic Kinokuni Wakayama 2019). A total of 85 people took part in either the Kumano K...
Article
Full-text available
Due to the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Masters Games 2021 Kansai as well as the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games have been postponed for a year. To re-energize the Masters Games culture after the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, this study aimed to examine similarities and differences in constraints and constraint n...
Article
This study investigated the degree to which perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns were associated with two dimensions of grit-namely, consistency of interests and perseverance of effort-in a sample of 251 intercollegiate varsity athletes (M age = 20.34 years, SD = 2.0). Perfectionism and grit were both conceptualized and measured a...
Article
Full-text available
This case study reports the effects of viewing nature photographs with classical music on participants' tranquility levels among 10 memory care residents living with dementia. This study utilized a pre-/post-design with residents' rating their tranquility level and a certified Nurse Aid observer rating each resident's perceived tranquility level bo...
Article
Full-text available
Although scholars have suggested that structured and unstructured leisure may impact youth’s delinquent behaviors, there have been conflicting findings. Moreover, existing research has assumed that leisure influences delinquent behaviors, not vice versa. To address these gaps, we analyzed a prospective longitudinal dataset from the Korea Children a...
Chapter
This introduction chapter describes the origin of this book project and the field of positive sociology of leisure (PSL), drawing on Stebbins’ works and the positive sociology movement. The chapter also defines PSL as an area of research that examines social aspects of leisure life with a focus on the optimal functioning of relationship, group, com...
Chapter
This concluding chapter summarizes all the chapters in this volume on positive sociology of leisure (PSL), while identifying common themes across them. Some of the common themes are represented in the book’s sections: meanings of leisure; aging; gender, sexuality, and family; community, youth, and education; and arts and creativity. In addition to...
Article
Full-text available
Wellbeing literature has greatly benefited from cross-cultural and non-Western research. However, most studies have been guided by Western, English constructs such as "happiness." Thus, a large amount of non-Western, non-English words related to wellbeing remain unstudied, leaving a crucial gap in our knowledge on wellbeing. To address this gap, we...
Article
There are two types of measurement models: reflective and formative. Kyle and Jun critiqued that while past leisure constraints studies assumed the reflective model, the formative counterpart may better fit extant measures; this was empirically supported by Kono, Ito, and Loucks-Atkinson. The purpose of this short research note is to extend this ke...
Article
We investigated the relationship between satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and/or relatedness and intrinsic motivation during leisure, and how this process was similar and/or different for British/Canadians (N = 259) and Hong Kong Chinese (N = 583) employees. Self-reported, cross-sectional data were collected i...
Article
Although prediction is a stated goal of leisure constraints and constraint negotiation research, to date, empirical studies have solely focused on statistical explanation when comparing competing models. Our research, therefore, examined the predictive power of five leisure constraint-negotiation models within the context of leisure-time physical a...
Article
Full-text available
Serious leisure (SL) is a specific leisure experience characterised by perseverance, leisure career, personal effort, durable benefits, unique ethos, and identification with the activity. As it results in self-actualisation and self-expression, Robert Stebbins has proposed that SL does not only increase participants’ hedonic well-being (e.g. pleasa...
Article
Full-text available
Our understanding of well-being has benefited from cross-cultural and non-Western research. However, culturally unique well-being concepts remain largely under-theorized. To address this gap, our research was aimed at developing and validating a substantive theory of how Japanese university students pursue ikigai or life worth living. To this end,...
Book
This edited collection explores Positive Sociology of Leisure (PSL) as a subfield relating to leisure studies, sociology of leisure, and sociology of happiness. Defined as an area of research that examines social aspects of leisure life with a focus on the optimal functioning of relationship, group, community, organization, and other social units,...
Article
The purposes of this study were to examine (a) similarities and differences in constraints to and constraint negotiation for masters games (MG) participation, and (b) the relationships among constraints, constraint negotiation, and intention to participate in the World Masters Games 2021 Kansai, across international sport tourists, domestic sport t...
Article
Although cross-cultural and non-Western studies have advanced our knowledge on well-being, many studies have adopted English words including ‘happiness’ as their guiding concepts, which may have limited and biased their insight. The current study is part of a larger mixed-methods project that theorizes how Japanese university students pursue ikigai...
Article
Disasters cause myriad physical, psychological, and social problems among survivors around the world. Although therapeutic recreation (TR) is theoretically important for survivors, few have supported this by using empirical data. This study examines the applicability of one of the leading TR models, the leisure and well-being model (LWM), to post-d...
Article
More than a million international students studied at U.S. colleges and universities in 2016–2017 (Open Doors Report, 2017), bringing close to 39 billion dollars into the U.S. economy (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2017). Previous research reveals that international students often face significant obstacles in their adjustment with the U.S. educatio...
Article
The mental health status of veteran cancer survivors is understudied. Given that studies show that physical activity (PA) may alleviate mental distress in cancer patients, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between PA and mental distress in veteran lung and colorectal cancer survivors. Data for the present study were retrieve...
Article
Moment- and memory-based leisure experiences appear to differ. Furthermore, prior research indicates that retrospective affective reports do not converge with their immediate counterparts, with the latter assumed to be more accurate. The experience sampling method (ESM) allows researchers to capture immediate experiences; however, it is more resour...
Article
Full-text available
Although the health benefits of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) are well documented, it has been known that social minority groups (e.g., women, racial/ethnic minority, people with disabilities) tend to engage in LTPA less than their majority counterparts. The literature on LTPA participation among socially diverse groups is limited in that (...
Article
Full-text available
The original article has been corrected. Table 4 in the original article was incomplete and has been corrected.
Article
Research on leisure and well-being in non-Western contexts is rare. Our study addresses this issue by investigating whether satisfaction of three basic psychological needs – autonomy, competence and/or relatedness – influences four types of affective well-being – high-arousal positive (HAP) affect, low-arousal positive (LAP) affect, high-arousal ne...
Article
Purpose World Heritage sites (WHS) can play an important role in promoting visitation to emerging and remote destinations. Guided by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study aims to investigate factors that predict intentions to visit WHS. Design/methodology/approach Survey questionnaires were used to collect data from visitors ( n = 519)...
Article
Full-text available
Kyle and Jun raised a serious question against the way researchers have specified leisure constraints measurement model: Leisure constraints measures should be formatively measured, while the dominant model has been reflective. Despite their important theoretical contributions, Kyle and Jun’s empirical evidence has limitations. The purpose of this...
Article
Full-text available
Disasters influence human lives on a large scale. In 2017 only, 441 disasters killed 13,310 people and directly affected approximately 93 million individuals around the world (Centre for Research on the Epistemology of Disasters n.d.). Nonetheless, it remains understudied how these tragedies impact survivors’ leisure lives. Survivors may suffer inc...
Article
Our study purposes were twofold: to inductively develop cross-culturally informed leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) constraint and constraint negotiation typologies and to investigate cultural similarities and differences in LTPA constraints and constraint negotiation using both the newly developed typologies and conventional Western typologies...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this mixed-methods research project is to theorize the linkage between leisure experience and life worthiness, or what the Japanese call ikigai. A grounded theory analysis of photo-elicitation interview data from 27 Japanese university students led to the inductive development of a substantive theory. This theory was then tested base...
Article
We investigated whether satisfaction of employees’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and/or relatedness during leisure positively impacted their leisure domain satisfaction (LSAT) and, in turn, whether LSAT positively influenced their global life satisfaction (GLS). To better understand the above, we simultaneously examined these...
Article
Sport events that depend upon natural landscapes tend to draw athletes from urban centres to peripheral areas. In doing so these events function as tourist attractions but little is known about the way participating athletes understand these places. This study explores the ways that one type of sport traveller (i.e. ultramarathon runners) understan...
Article
Although the paradigmatic discussion has encouraged leisure scholars to critically examine their inquiry assumptions (Parry, Johnson, & Stewart, 2013 Parry, D. C., Johnson, C. W., & Stewart, W. (2013). Leisure research for social justice: A response to Henderson. Leisure Sciences, 35, 81–87.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®]), Henderson...
Article
This study explored the relationships among Hurricane Katrina-related stressors, coping/adjustment, and leisure among Japanese and Japanese American survivors in New Orleans. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted in March 2012. Continuous uncertainty, along with Katrina-related stressful events, negatively impacted the survivors' psycholog...
Article
The roles of leisure have been significantly underexplored in postdisaster psychological recovery contexts. In this study, we explore this topic through a case study of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami (GEJE). In July 2012, in-depth interviews were conducted with both survivors and disaster volunteers to examine postdisaster life. A cult...

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