Quantifying the psychological Benefits of leisure experiences is a challenging task. However, one scale, the Recreation Experience Preference (REP) scale, has been developed to measure the psychological Benefits derived from participating in outdoor recreation experiences.” (The REP scale was later used in a wider study of leisure experiences overall.)
In outdoor recreation, according to the scale, one may enjoy psychological benefits from any or all of the elements listed in Table 3.2. In A Closer Look you can learn more about the benefits and effects of engaging in outdoor leisure pursuits.
In another study, responses from more than 4,000 participants led Tinsley, Barrett, and Kass to identify two kinds of psychological benefits that can be derived from engaging in leisure activities of all sorts: general benefits and activity-specific benefits.” General benefits are gained to approximately the same degree from any leisure activity, whereas activity-specific benefits are gained in greater or lesser degree, depending on the specific leisure activity undertaken Table 3.3 lists the general and activity-specific psychological benefits identified by the researchers.