What is the institute's objective?

For individuals and society as a whole, knowledge about leisure-related issues and the critical examination of leisure activities are of ever-increasing importance. However, while there are already veritable data graveyards for the quantitative determination of leisure activities (who does what and for how long), the reasons behind specific leisure behaviors remain largely unexplored. Closing this research gap is one of the main objectives of the BAT Leisure Research Institute, founded in May 1979.
Under the scientific direction of Prof. Dr. Opaschowski, the institute aims to contribute to the analysis of personal and societal leisure-related problems through qualitative research. The focus is on fundamental scientific research and the dissemination of the resulting findings, which will be made available to the general public and to professionals from various fields specifically interested in the topic of leisure. Everyone can benefit from this research for their own work. However, the BAT Leisure Research Institute will not offer any magic bullets for better leisure time. Instead, it aims to contribute to the development of better approaches to solving the complex issues surrounding leisure.
The institute's work is therefore long-term and deliberately flexible in order to take account of the constant developments in the leisure sector.

What has been achieved so far?

During its first months of existence, the institute has not been idle. For example, it commissioned its first research project from a Frankfurt-based opinion research institute on the leisure activities of families in and around their homes.
The results clearly show that dissatisfaction, stress, and helplessness prevail, rather than the joy and enjoyment of life that societal ideals would suggest. On the one hand, leisure time is associated with high expectations, partly due to the enticing offerings of the leisure industry; on the other hand, initiative is lacking, so that for many respondents, the monotony of everyday family life, with its heavy television consumption, becomes the norm.

What happens next?

In addition to ongoing basic research, the BAT Leisure Research Institute plans further surveys on the leisure behavior of other population groups, studies on leisure activities and alternatives in the local area, the publication of a scientific series and the organization of a symposium in the coming period.

The focus on the "nuclear family" leaves many needs for personal and social leisure activities unmet, which is partly reflected in the high divorce rates. Divorce often becomes the last resort to escape a state of psychological imprisonment. The shift from the "extended family" to the "nuclear family," then to the "married couple with one child," and finally to the "spouse family" has led to an intensification of life within the family. This has transformed the family into the central intimate group, placing strict limits on the personal autonomy and social freedom of spouses and family members.

The snail shell syndrome

With their desire for both "closeness" and "distance," many family members are largely left to their own devices today: In their time together, there is hardly any room for solitude. The loneliness of togetherness is the great paradox of leisure time within the nuclear family.
While close living arrangements offer security and human warmth, they simultaneously block the fulfillment of the occasional desire for inner distance from oneself and one's partner. To cultivate an independent life, one must have and be able to control time for oneself. If this free time is lacking—due to compulsive family ties—feelings of loneliness within the family can arise. This can lead to a state of unwanted isolation (the "shell syndrome") with feelings of dejection, unease, irritability, and self-loathing.
The impatient mood turns into open aggression when family ties, expectations and demands permanently disregard the desire for an independent life in leisure time, for an individual leisure niche.
The BAT Leisure Research Institute used this problem as the starting point for a comprehensive motivational study and commissioned the Frankfurt Contest Census Institute to conduct the research. Specifically, the study aimed to investigate the leisure activities of married individuals living in metropolitan areas with at least one child in their household. In October and November 1979, the institute interviewed 200 people in Frankfurt, Mannheim, and the Ruhr region. The study demonstrates that family leisure obligations and personal leisure desires only partially coincide, leading to social pressure within the family and feelings of guilt among individual family members.

Savings program after work

Children and spouses expect attention and demand support. You yourself are tired, worn out, and want time for yourself. This conflict is only superficially resolved: you remain "alone in the community." While the evening may take place with family, everyone is essentially on their own. Here, the television—the inevitable "gathering point" for the family—serves a purpose. Contacts are fleeting, limited to the bare essentials. If a family member doesn't adhere to this "savings plan," the peace of the evening is shattered, and tensions erupt. The family is the real source of conflict during leisure time. Because it deals with fundamental issues that directly affect each individual. The main difficulty is the almost compulsive desire to reconcile the various wishes of family members. The homemaker longs for variety and activities, the daughter, struggling with her homework, demands help, the young son wants to finally romp around the apartment with his father, and the father wants nothing more than to put his feet up in peace and not hear a thing.

The Hamburg-based research group Family Leisure Sports (HFF) has developed a leisure model of supra-regional importance on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs.
In Pinneberg, this model was tested and scientifically evaluated under the direction of leisure expert Karl Heinz Lorenz and Prof. Dr. Horst W. Opaschowski. The research project is based on a family leisure concept that combines diverse play opportunities for children "right on their doorstep," meaning within sight and shouting distance, with stimulating leisure activities for parents "just around the corner." This means that children's play and parents' leisure time are linked spatially, thematically, and emotionally.
The aim of the pilot project, to overcome "motivational inhibitions" and "fear of crossing thresholds," is achieved, among other things, by enabling families to voluntarily participate in leisure activities without being forced to do so.
The Pinneberg experiment lasted 12 weeks. Under the guidance and advice of specially trained leisure "animators," everyone could engage in playful activities and discover new leisure ideas in a 10,000 square meter area. Twenty-six animators were constantly on hand as "motivational helpers" and "interest advisors." They helped overcome anxieties about contact and participation through socially engaging leisure activities. For those who were completely undecided, the animators met them "right outside their front door"—on their balcony, in their garden, or on the street. Hundreds of residents participated in sensory games, relaxation exercises, jazz gymnastics, and yoga, or explored activities such as painting, paper crafting, silver wirework, batik, and pottery.
The scientific evaluation of the research project „Pinneberg Model“ is scheduled to be completed in May and published in the series of publications of the Federal Ministry for Youth, Family and Health at the end of 1980.
(Further information: HFF Project Office Lorenz/Opaschowski, Friedenstraße 96, 2080 Pinneberg, Tel.: 04101- 33 457)

High level of awareness among German citizens regarding leisure activities

A leisure study conducted by the BAT Leisure Research Institute in cooperation with Contest-Census, Frankfurt, reveals that German citizens are aware that their free time isn't always idyllic. However, opinions differ widely regarding the root causes of the difficulties they encounter during their leisure time.
Despite a high level of awareness of the problems among the 200 families surveyed, "only" slightly more than half reported difficulties. Of these, 57 cited primarily "objective problems": too little free time, too little money, or obligations related to household chores, further education, etc. However, the real source of conflict is the family itself. At least 39 cited family-related reasons for frustration and anger. A major difficulty is trying to reconcile all the family's wishes. Seventeen cited personal problems. Here, there is a strong tendency to suppress these issues, although the personal problem of boredom actually plays a negligible role in the population group studied here – families with children.

Initial findings from a leisure study conducted by the BAT Leisure Research Institute in collaboration with the Contest-Census Institute in Frankfurt revealed that Saturday is the best day for leisure. While the evening after work is often perceived merely as a "counterpart to work," with family leisure time treated as a "budgeted activity," the weekend offers a concentrated experience of all the highs and lows of leisure time. Although people are often already "fed up" with their families by Sunday evening, Saturday is characterized by joyful anticipation, with family taking absolute priority. Leisure time is generally perceived as positive and beneficial.