'Me ollaan koko ajan liikkeessä' : tutkimus nuorten omaehtoisen liikkumisen muodoista ja merkityksistä tilan kehyksissä

This study examines the meanings and prerequisites of self-organised physical activity from young people’s perspective. The theoretical framework is social space, which enables young people’s experiences to be interpreted in parallel with their physical, social, and cultural environment. Three research questions are addressed: (1) Where does young people’s self-organised physical activity take place? (2) What are the forms of the activity? (3) What meanings do young people associate with the spaces of the activity? The research data were collected within one municipality. The main data consist of 34 theme interviews with young people aged 12 to 16 years. The interviewees were selected mainly with the help of a questionnaire in three lower secondary schools. Interview data were also collected at the sites of self- organised physical activity. The chosen interviewees were boys and girls with different physical activity orientations in terms of the forms and frequency of physical activity, and with different living environments: a small city centre, the residential areas of the city, a rural town centre, and rural areas. The data also include activity maps and on-site observation. The data were analysed using content analysis. The ideal places of self-organised physical activity were situated close to home, available for spontaneous use, and occasionally modifiable. Open and sufficiently large spaces appeared to be more significant than high-quality sites or facilities. The forms of activity were characterised by the adaptation of sports and movement to suit the place, time frame, and particularly the reference group. Physical activity environments proved to be divergent social spaces for different young people. Spaces of sociality and spaces of playfulness were of major importance for the activity, implicating a distinction from the discourse of rationality. The spatial power held by adults over the spaces for the activity was also relevant for the meanings. In conclusion, the role of physical activity in unstructured leisure time varied from spontaneous supplementary motion to goal-oriented training. Finding space for meaningful activity required variable degrees of agency because it often connected with opportunities to negotiate acceptable uses of functionalised and limited space.