Serious Leisure as a predictor of place attachment of sport tourists (Case study: Tochal Mountain trekking)

Leisure time is influenced by socio-economic developments and global values and plays an important role in our lives. a few domestic studies have been conducted in Iran on serious leisure and place attachment and gender differences in these two variables. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of serious leisure on place attachment and scrutiny of differences between male and female trekking tourists. The research method was descryptive-correlation which was conducted by the field method. The statistical population of the study is the trekking tourists of Tochal Mountain who stayed at least ۱۲ nights a year in the resorts of this mountain. PASS software was used to determine the sample size. Finally, ۲۷۵ samples participated in the study. In order to collect data, the questionnaires of Gould et al. (۲۰۰۸) and Ramkinson et al were used. The face and content validity of questionnaires were assessed by ۹ academics. A pilot study was also conducted in order to evaluate the construct validity and Cronbach’s alpha of questionnaires was equal to ۰.۹۱۲, respectively. In order to analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used using SPSS software version ۲۵ and LISREL version ۸.۸. Findings showed that ۳۷% of spatial attachment changes can be predicted through serious leisure. Based on the results of structural equation modeling, the impact of serious leisure on place attachment of amateur athletes was adequately fitted (SRMR=۰.۰۵۹). The findings of this study showed that seriousness in leisure leads to place attachment of trekking and can increase participation in physical activities. In other words, one of the ways to influence people s leisure behavior choices is to use systematic pursuit of leisure and and to create a place attachment in sports places. Systematic and serious participation in leisure can bring about social bonding, place identity, place dependence and place affect. The results also showed that there was no difference between men and women in terms of serious leisure scores and place attachment.

کلیدواژه ها:

Serious leisure ، place attachment ، Gender ، trekking ، tochal