El ocio ambiental-ecológico en el marco de las relaciones intergeneracionales

Abstract

In 2015, the member states of the General Assembly of the United Nations (Government of Spain, 2018) established an Action Plan specifying a series of Sustainable Development Goals (2030 Agenda) whose primary purpose was to achieve the equality of all people, establish a series of global measures to protect our planet, and guarantee a sustainable future for all people. In this sense, leisure, understood as a universal right, allows the development of positive, valuable, and free experiences (Cuenca, 2016), contributing to and achieving a large part of these objectives. In addition, these types of valuable leisure experiences can contribute to the psychological, emotional, physical, and social well-being of the people involved in them. The environmental-ecological dimension of leisure, the central theme of the thesis, is defined as "a specific manifestation of leisure characterized by the experience of satisfactory experiences motivated by the context, in the sense of being in a place and/or an environment" (Cuenca, 2016: 13). This dimension includes activities such as trips, excursions, caring for animals and plants, gardening, hunting and fishing, among others. This type of intergenerational leisure practice currently holds a prominent place in our society. In addition, it has been found that the environmental-ecological leisure experiences shared by members of different generations within the family nucleus are very positive and provide many benefits to the people who perform them. However, activities and experiences related to leisure have recently been affected by various factors such as the economic crisis, the increase in working hours, women’s incorporation to work outside the home, the reduction of free time, and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a readjustment and restructuring of leisure practices among family members. On the other hand, we must emphasize that the figure of the grandparent is frequently perceived as being limited within the family structures to a mere caregiver of their grandchildren and/or a collaborator in household obligations. However, this research was born to verify some unanswered questions about the relationships between grandfathers, grandmothers, and their grandchildren regarding leisure practices. The research's general objective was to analyze the experiences of environmental-ecological leisure shared by grandparents and their grandchildren aged between 6 and 12 years, residents in the north of Spain. Regarding the methodology used, a quantitative study through the questionnaire and a qualitative study through discussion groups are included to facilitate data collection. The questionnaires were applied to schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 and their grandparents, collecting their perceptions of the extensive relationship of shared intergenerational leisure. The purpose of the discussion groups was to identify the habits and interests that emerge when grandparents and grandchildren share their time together—either out of family necessity or willingly—-which improve family relationships and networks. The results obtained provide interesting conclusions, among which the following stand out: environmental-ecological leisure activities occupy an intermediate position between leisure practices shared by grandparents and grandchildren, ranking fourth at 78.2%. Environmental-ecological leisure activities such as outdoor walking, experiences in the natural environment, caring for animals and plants, and gardening play an essential role. Most of the environmental leisure activities shared by grandparents and grandchildren take place on holidays. In contrast, others, such as caring for animals or gardening, have a more homogeneous temporal distribution because they must be carried out throughout the year. Certain activities, such as excursions, fishing or hunting, are shared more with men than with women. Being retired or being an employee is a determining factor when it comes to sharing environmental leisure activities, specifically excursions. Grandparents who are dedicated to home care are, in general, those who share fewer leisure activities. The higher the achieved level of education, the more likely it is to share this type of activities with grandchildren, specifically, those related to excursions and caring for gardens or plants. Sharing environmental-ecological leisure experiences by grandparents and grandchildren contributes to the improvement of the physical, mental, and emotional development of both generations, favoring the assimilation of healthy habits, pro-environmental awareness and commitment to caring for the environment, intergenerational links, and co-learning. The COVID-19 pandemic paralyzed environmental leisure activities between grandparents and grandchildren, causing them to adapt after this situation was overcome. The perspective of this thesis reveals the need to monitor socio-educational programs focused on intergenerational environmental leisure and determine their effectiveness, as there are various intergenerational programs in which older people serve the community by helping, collaborating, and tutoring people of other generations or programs focused on co-learning in natural environments with intergenerational encounters in contact with nature, which can provide valuable benefits to the generations that participate in them.