Recreation and Family Stress: An Essay in Institutional Conflicts Author(s): T. R. Young Source: Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol.

26, No. 1 (Feb., 1964), pp. 95-96 Published by: National Council on Family Relations Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/349386 . Accessed: 08/02/2014 23:54
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Recreation and Family Stress: An Essay in Institutional Conflicts

T. R. YOUNG University of Colorado
The possibility of a relationshipin modern society between family disorganization and recreational patternsis explored. Changes in modern recreationpatternsfrom an individual to a dyadic participation unit, from homogeneousto heterogeneous by sexes, and from participation a goal of excellenceto one of ecstasymay have implicationswhich operateagainstfamily integration.

THIS PAPER attempts to explicate some on relationshipsbetween family disorganization the one hand and certain changes in the social structure of recreation on the other. Specifically, an effort is made to show that part of the problem of family breakdownmay be dependent upon patterns within the recreationalinstitution. There are three developments within the social structureof recreationwhich are thought to have special relevanceto patternsof family stress and collapse. These are: (1) the change in recreain the size of the unit of participation tion, (2) the change in the sex compositionof the participants,and (3) the special character of the goals of recreation. The first consideredis the change in the size of the unit of recruitment for recreational purposes. In many pre-industrialsocieties, the unit of recruitmentand participationin recreational activity is the individual. In modern societies, this still prevails to a markeddegree, but for a great many recreational activities,the unit of recruitment and participationis a dyad, the "husband-and-wife" of the nuclear family. These participants are recruited as a dyad rather than individually. The author suggests that success or failure of their functioning within an expressive structurecarries over to their performancein the family. To the degree that expressiveactivitiesare centralto a culture, to the degree that the functioning dyad is
1 While it is clear that bowling leagues and kaffeeklatsches continue to gain in popularity as masculine and feminine refuges, the fact of increasing "togetherness" in recreation is emphasized here. W. A. Anderson presents evidence that social participation is, to a considerable degree, a family trait. The relationship of participation of husbands and wives seemed to be strongest, while other family pairs were less frequently joint participants. "The Family and Individual Social Participation," American Sociological Review, 8 (1943), p. 421. Robert Blood asserts that after marriage, the dyad extends sociability activities to include group activities with other dyads. Marriage, Glencoe: Free Press, 1962, p. 344.

successful or not, to the degree that one partner is able to perform: to these extents will this pattern of recruitment and participation in recreationalsystems have saliency for familial integrity. The above speculationslead to the hypothesis that where one partner is incompetentor, even worse, indifferent, where one partner demursfrom recruitment, or where one partner makes excessive demands, additional stresses will devolve upon the family. Since the unit of recruitment and participation is a dyad which also happens to be the conjugal pair, special stresses develop to challenge the unity of that alliance in both dimensions of institutional activity. In those societies where individuals were inducted into recreationalenterprises with little relevance to the performance of a marriagepartneras in the secret societies in African cultures or the sewing societies in America, these special stresses did not transfer to the familial structure.The problem, then, is one of differential dedication and differential competence within the recreational dyad which, when very marked,may disrupt a dyad which is also a family. In addition to the pressure of double involvement, the fact of conjugal-pair recruitment alters the sexual homogeneity of recreation. With this new development, it becomes inevitable that the actors are viewed as sexual objects as well as actors within the system at hand. This new perspectivetaken toward actors within the system has presented special problems for the integrity of the recreationalsystem as well as of the family. Sometimesrules of the game have to be suspendedor revised in accordwith the special demandson gallantryoften to the annoyanceof the players.Gallantry recedes under such circumstances. Sometimesit is the familial unit which suffers when the spouse is ungallant or when the gallantry is proffered by a player other than the spouse 95

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who has the additional attribute of being a sexual object. While solace and comfort can come from the spouse, when there is success in the game or activity it is not required,and in times of trouble, it is difficultto extend. Finally, the goal of recreationalinteraction creates untoward pressures when the unit of participationis heterosexual.Often the goal is one of ecstasyratherthan intellectualor physical excellence. This suggests the hypothesis that in recreational structures having such goals, further stresses are placed on the familial structure.2 Here ecstasyis sharedby sexual objects who have pre-existing and divergent role attachmentsin another social institution, that of the family. Negative emotional content
2 Playing cards, dancing, drinking, and gambling are examples of sorts of recreation where such "togetherness" is associated with family stress. Interesting data to this point is presented in Blood, oP. cit., p. 339. Sometimes, of course, joint participation may strengthen the family when one partner uses the game or activity as an opportunity to allow the spouse to win or excel. See, for example, Mirra Komarovasky, "Cultural Contradictions and Sex Roles," American Journal of Sociology, 52 (1946), p. 187. But this is likely to be the case in a culture where the role of the wife demands such deference. In an egalitarian social milieu, the wife may not feel it necessary to defer habitually to her husband.

may be defined into those symbols associated with a player who is also one's spouse, and positive emotional content may be defined into symbols associated with another player who also happens to be quite an appropriatesexual object and not one's own spouse. Further, this sharing of multiple structures by the pair sometimes places them in roles which offer and sanction aggression, hostility, humiliation, and immolation of one's own spouse when he is an opponent. The involvement in such a role cannot easily be assumed and discarded at the designated portals of social space. Since it is easy to confuse the actor in his institutional role with the total person, expectations and responses associated with one role may spill over to other roles. All in all, the special characterof contemporary recreation-its spousal or familial patterns of recruitment,its heterosexualityin role allocation,and the special natureof the goalsplaces additional stress on the integration of the modern family. It is hoped that research can be undertaken to test the theoretical hypotheses put forward in this paper and to explore the conditions under which they do or do not apply.

Residential Patterns of Aged Persons Prior to Institutionalization*

HARRY R. DICK Wichita and Institute of Logopedics University of HIRAM J. FRIEDSAM
North Texas State University

CORA ANN MARTIN

University of Texas The residentialmobilityand living arrangements of residentsof two voluntarynonprofithomes into the homes were studied. The numberand for the aged for 15 years prior to their entrance changes were found to be predominantly types of residentialand living-arrangement functions and of the sex of the agedperson. of changesin healthand in familystructure

AS

PEOPLE grow old, they frequently en- been given to how older persons and their counter special problems in finding suitable families attempt to deal with these problems. living arrangements,but little attention has
* Revision of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Washington, D.C., 1962. A more detailed form of this paper has been deposited with the ADI Auxiliary Publications Project, Photo Duplication Service, Library of Congress, Washington 25, D.C. The larger project from which this paper is drawn was supported by a grant from the Social Security Administration; additional support was made available by North Texas State University. The active interest and cooperation of the staffs and residents of the two Homes under study greatly facilitated work on the project. Grateful acknowledgement is made to all.

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