Adaptative Strategies for Outdoor Recreation During a Time of Stress: Insights from the COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S

Colby Parkinson, Xiangyou Shen, Megan MacDonald, Samuel W. Logan, Lydia Gorrell and Bridget E. Hatfield

SAGE Open, 2024, vol. 14, issue 4, 21582440241305774

Abstract: Maintaining engagement in outdoor recreation during COVID-19 required adaptation as the pandemic continuously reshaped risk perceptions, use of outdoor space, and interpersonal contact. This study examined the role of four main adaptive strategies in outdoor recreation engagement among U.S. adults during one of the nation’s largest waves of COVID-19 cases and death. Cross-sectional data were collected through an online survey in February 2021 ( N  = 503) from an online panel representative of the U.S. adult population in age, gender, and race. Multiple linear regression results suggested that increasing effort and temporal adjustment were associated with higher outdoor recreation frequency controlling for the effects of nearby green space access and attributes, COVID risk perception, and demographic variables. Binary logistic regression results revealed that these same strategies were also associated with increased odds of maintaining or increasing outdoor engagement relative to pre-COVID level. The prominent role of individual adaptive strategies relative to the impact of nearby green space access and attributes highlighted the value of behavioral adaptation at the individual level in times of major disruptions and constraints and the need to prioritize recreation programming to facilitate adaptation and healthy behaviors during future stressful events.

Keywords: adaptation; outdoor recreation; leisure constraints; COVID-19; hospitality; travel; tourism management; social sciences; social psychology; sociology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440241305774 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:14:y:2024:i:4:p:21582440241305774

DOI: 10.1177/21582440241305774

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in SAGE Open
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().