新作坊 Humanity Innovation and Social Practice

The Connections Between Social Support and Women's Physical Activity Involvement: The Cultural Activity Participation Study

摘要：

Although traditional gender roles have dictated that women belong in the private sphere of the home, Gilligan (1982) described an "ethic of care" as an important dimension underlying women's lives. She found that most women considered the aspect of caring as doing no harm to oneself or others. [Henderson, K.A.] and Allen (1991) illustrated how women were likely to exhibit an ethic of care that oriented their leisure toward relationships with others. This connection with others served as both an enhancement and a constraint to personal leisure. Unkel (1981) found that single women declined quicker in their physical activity as they aged than did women with children. In her study, having children seemed to enhance physical activity even though other types of personal leisure declined. This focus on relationality or affiliative leisure meant that women were often able to find leisure partners (family and friends) that enhanced their leisure. The needs of others, however, were also a constraint on leisure (Henderson et al., 1996). Bialeschki and Michener (1994) also described a dichotomous influence of the ethic of care on women's leisure. Henderson and [Bialeschki, M.D.] (1994) examined how the women they interviewed, who were physically active and predominantly European American, described either "supportive others" and "don't cares" in their lives. The "don't cares" provided social support only in that they did not prevent women from expressing themselves through whatever activities they chose, as long as the family or significant others were not ignored. Grandchildren were important in the lives of many of the older women who were interviewed. In some cases grandchildren were living in the home, but in other cases they were "visitors" on both regular and irregular bases. One African American woman stated, "I tell you, you don't know what it is to have a grandchild. I think that's a joy of every woman's life to have grandchildren." Another woman said, "I love to play games. And my grandson loves to play games, so that makes it good. And we play games." Several women remarked that grandchildren "kept them busy whenever they're here." Some of the women described playing "catch," tennis, and other activities. An African American woman, however, cautioned about the responsibility that occurred because of grandchildren: Involvement in feasts and dances were a significant aspect of the American Indian community life for the women interviewed. Feasts occurred periodically (once to several times depending upon the community) throughout the year, and were an opportunity for Native communities to come together to socialize, eat, and dance. Women were responsible for feast preparation and were involved to varying degrees in the dancing that occurred. One American Indian woman said, "They [men] dance, like at Christmas, but we don't really do too much, we just prepare food, and the men mostly take part in that dance.' She went on to say, "It's just a lot of work I think living in the pueblo and all these feasts they have and they're always, you know, having feasts and it just takes a lot of time." Other American Indian women, however, saw the opportunities to dance as positive. One woman described her experience as, "all day dancing...I would say about fifty miles of walk in one day. In the whole weekend it's a hundred miles that we walk. Dancing and walking" Another woman likened the Indian dancing to "it's almost like jogging around at the Plaza." An older American Indian woman offered: