Stephenson, Joseph R. (Joseph Robert)2024-08-152024-08-1519861986https://hdl.handle.net/1828/19787In order to investigate the factors that influence adult participation in urban community recreation programs, 241 volunteer respondents were surveyed at six community centres in greater Victoria. A questionnaire was developed for this study, designed to identify specific factors for participation and to collect relevant socio-economic and demographic data from the respondents. The first draft of the questionnaire was used for the pilot study at one of the six public facilities. The results from the Factor analysis following the pilot study provided justification for retention of the seven selected motivation factors for the main study. Those seven factors included: Enjoyment, Exercise, Socializing, Family Contact, Stress Relief, Achievement, and Competition. The results of the Multivariate Analysis of Variance tests indicated several significant differences among the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the participants from the mean scores on the seven motivation factors. Sex differences were the most prominent. Females preferred Exercising, Socializing, Stress Relief, and Achievement more than males, while males preferred Competition more than females. The mean scores on the motivation factors also produced significant differences on the characteristics of employment status, age, and number of children of the respondents, as well as on the number of hours and times per week of participation, and among the different facilities. The Manova tests produced non-significant overall results on the characteristics of marital status, education, and income, in relation to the mean scores on the motivation factors.104 pagesAvailable to the World Wide WebThesis