Leisure Participation Types, Perceived Leisure Constraints, and Leisure Satisfaction in a National Korean Sample

This study examined associations between leisure participation types and leisure satisfaction using a Korean national survey sample, with perceived leisure constraints specified as an intervening variable in a cross-sectional structural model. Data came from the 2025 National Leisure Activity Survey, and 10,028 respondents were included. Seven types of primary leisure activity were compared with rest-oriented leisure, perceived leisure constraints were modeled as a latent variable, and sociodemographic and employment-related characteristics were controlled. Participation type was related to perceived constraints and leisure satisfaction, but the differences were small. Relative to rest-oriented leisure, satisfaction was higher for cultural participation, sports participation, tourism, hobbies and entertainment, and social and other activities (standardized differences = 0.09–0.50) but not for cultural viewing or sports viewing. Sports participation was associated with fewer perceived constraints and tourism with more. Perceived constraints were negatively associated with satisfaction (β = −0.055); exploratory analysis suggested that this association may mainly reflect time and financial constraints. Indirect associations through perceived constraints were very small and robust only for sports participation and tourism. Participation type explained about 1% and the full model 4.4% of the variance in leisure satisfaction, indicating that broad activity type and perceived constraints are minor correlates of satisfaction.