Recreation behaviors and satisfaction of participants in the central urbanized Ho Chi Minh Cit

Recreation is recognized as an essential instrument for enhancing quality of life. The importance and benefit of recreation have been demonstrated in many studies. The purposes of this study were to examine the recreation behaviors and satisfaction in the central urbanized HCMC. Quota sampling technique was adopted in this study. The researchers approached 400 respondents who were 18 years old and above and were participating in recreation activities at 5 sport centers, 5 culture centers and theaters, 5 local parks and theme park, and 5 shopping centers in the central urbanized HCMC to collect the data. The instrument of this study was the survey questionnaire which included three parts: 1). Participants’ demographic information; 2). Recreation behaviors and 3). Recreation satisfaction which adapted Leisure Satisfaction Scale. The statistics used for data analysis including frequency, percentage; mean, standard deviation, t-test, One-way ANOVA, and Post hoc Scheffe test was used for pairwise comparison. The findings of this study were: 1) Males and females occupied quite the same rate. Most of the respondents were from 26 to 40 years old. Single and married groups occupied approximately half of total respondents in each figure. More than a half of respondents have studied University/College and the majority occupation was Employee. 2) Respondents participated in recreation activities few times per month mostly. Music and Singing activities is the most popular recreation activity type. The most appropriate duration for recreation activities is from 1 to 2 hours on the weekdays and from 2 to 4 hours in the weekend. After 5 p. m. to 8 p.m. is the best time to participate in recreation activities in the central urbanized HCMC. In comparing the recreation behaviors of participants, t-test result showed that there were significant differences between male and female at the p-value ≤ 0.05, which indicated that men prefer the active recreation activities while women prefer the skillful and social interaction activities. One-way ANOVA results found the significant differences among age, education background, and marital status groups at the p-value ≤ 0.05. Specifically, the younger participants tend to participate more in active recreation activities and participants who were in others marital status enjoy recreational activities the most. The higher education background participants have the more often they participate in Reading, Speaking and writing activities. There was no significant difference in recreation behaviors among occupation groups 3) Participants were satisfied with the recreation activities; all 6 factors of recreation satisfaction were scored at the satisfied level. The statement “My recreation activities help me to relieve stress” got the highest agreement from participants and relaxation is the most satisfied factor of recreation in this city. In comparing the recreation satisfaction of participants, t-test result showed that there was no significant difference between male and female. One-way ANOVA results found the significant differences only among education background groups at the p-value ≤ 0.05, which showed that better-educated participants reported higher recreation satisfaction. There was no significant difference in recreation behaviors among age, marital status, and occupation groups.