Relating Adolescents’ Well-Being with the COVID-19 Pandemic through Recreational Activities

Authors

  • Dimpee Verma Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi
  • Dimple Rangila Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18666/JPRA-2025-12465

Keywords:

Recreation, COVID-19 pandemic, Adolescents’ well-being, Determinants of recreation

Abstract

Recreation, which ensures adolescents' holistic well-being, got ambushed by the COVID-19 pandemic homestay, sedentariness, and e-schooling, thereby limiting multi-domanial growth. Appraising youngsters' lives during the pandemic, we conducted this phenomenological study using an inductive approach to explore adolescents' recreational activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effect of pandemic-influenced recreation on their physical, psychological, and socio-emotional well-being. N=30 school and college-aged adolescents (15 boys, 15 girls) within 12-19 years (mean age: 16.4±1.94 years) from Delhi, India, were selected through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews (n=30), focus group discussions (n=10), and case narratives (n=3) helped in accumulating open-ended data from January 1, 2021–March 31, 2021. Content analysis concluded negative domination of the COVID-19 pandemic on juveniles' physical, psychological, and socio-emotional well-being through curtailing their free recreation. Due to scarce time devotion and insubstantial recreational choices, it was found that participants compellingly opted for indoor, sedentary, and digital activities while rejecting outdoor-physical pursuits. Further, parents, friends, teachers, homeschooling, and COVID-19 lockdown affected teenagers' recreation at family/home and community levels. Our results tracing lack of free recreation as the most prominent cause for adolescents' negative well-being during the pandemic, supported the argument we made in the study. These being highly relevant to public health and policy additionally highlighted the significance of continuous recreation during emergencies/otherwise, and researching latent developmental aspects especially recreation for layman to understand its worth. Laterally, management implications were suggested for adolescents’ ecological systems (parents, teachers, government authorities) to optimize recreation withal legal, moral, and social ways. 

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Published

2025-05-13

Issue

Vol. 43 No. 3 (2025)

Section

Research Papers

License

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