Have adults lost their sense of play? An observational study of the social dynamics of physical (in)activity in German and Hawaiian leisure settings

This study aimed to investigate the impact of group based behaviours on the physical activity or inactivity of individuals in two settings in Germany and Hawai’i. In particular, we were interested in how social group dynamics influenced the physical activity of groups members; and specifically whether there were specific socio-cultural factors which contributed to physical (in)activity behaviours, and whether these differed between two different cultural settings. In doing so, we sought to address gaps in research literature relating to how group dynamics may impact on physical activity behaviours. This is important because it gives us a more nuanced understanding of the range of factors outside of individual level that may influence behaviours, and thus may be used to develop interventions aimed to increase physical activity particularly in sedentary groups.

Before discussing the results, it is important to highlight some limitations associated with this study. First, the observers in Hawai’i were German and may not have culturally appropriately interpreted the behaviours of a predominantly Polynesian population. To overcome this author (HB) was from Hawai’i and provided the team with cultural advice during the study. Second, this study takes a snapshot of activities during their time at the pools. As we did not talk to any of the individuals we observed, we cannot make any assumptions about their physical activity behaviours outside of the observational settings and the observation period. Since we did not talk to visitors, we can also not make any assumptions about the intended purpose or motivation for attending the pool or the pond. Yet, a possible explanation for some of our observed behaviours could be the motivation to visit the site. For example, if a family only intends to socialise at the pond rather than to go swimming, corresponding behaviour can be expected. Third, in order to remain unnoticed by the observed subjects, the observers often had to write down their observational notes outside of the observation areas. In these cases, the observations had to be memorized for a certain time before they could be documented. This holds particularly true for Hawai’i, where a significant part of the observations was done from the water. Although the observers where trained in memorizing their observations, observational errors therefore cannot be ruled out. Finally, visitors of the Champagne Pond had to either drive by truck, walk for 200 metres over stony terrain, or swim into the Pond. Access was therefore more difficult than in Germany.

Based on our original research questions, the findings from this study raise three points for discussion. Firstly, group structures seem to play a very significant role regarding the activity of the group members. The social environment clearly shapes an individual’s behavioural output [36]. This holds also true for physical activity. Our data shows that among adults, group size influenced the physical activity behaviours of individuals within the group. We found that the larger a group was, the less physically active they tended to be. However, this was not the case for young adults and children. In large adult groups verbal communication also seemed to be usually livelier than in small groups. We thus assume that in large socializing groups physical activity disturbs this verbal communication and this results in sedentary behaviour. In order to limit the members to sitting and chatting and to maintain ‘physical communication discipline’, physical inactivity becomes a specific group norm. Against the background of Turner’s general assumptions that conformity with group norms plays a central role for holding a group together [37], physical inactivity functions as a group stabilizing element, despite all activity opportunities the settings offers. Conviviality in large groups was therefore both in Germany and Hawai’i characterised by sitting together in groups, relaxing and verbal communication in the form of frequent discussions, but not by physical activity. If groups of adults wanted to become active, they had to either ‘split off’ or come to the setting in small groups.

We also observed that physical activity level is moderated by so called ‘social (in)activity anchors’, such as domestication, obesity, and, in children, sitting parents. In this regard, mechanisms of social contagion are observable, such as the unconscious mimicry of the behaviour of significant others [30] or group dynamics driven by in-/out-group-constructions [28]. The phenomenon that even a small minority of a group can have a very powerful influence on the group’s behaviour might be explained by the findings of Xie et al. [38] who demonstrated that minorities can change the opinion of the whole group rapidly if they are larger than 10 % and, importantly, are very committed and dominant. We could observe – what Luszczynska et al. [31] and Dijksterhuis et al. [30] found in previous studies – that individuals imitate the behaviours of their peers automatically by unconscious mimicry in order to follow such unspoken rules. The data showed that this was especially the case for imitating physically inactive individuals. This observation is similar to other studies [16] that show that people tend to imitate the behaviour of their least fit, respectively less active friends. This may be a ‘courtesy effect’ whereby individual members of groups must not show their physical superiority but instead have to behave in such a way that the physically least fit member is not discriminated. This could particularly hold true for Hawai’i. The idea that group members must not be disadvantaged or embarrassed in public is an integral part of Ohana, a Hawaiian cultural ideal, that means family in a broader sense, including near friends. The idea of Ohana expects group members to build up strong relations with the others, to cooperate and help each other. In the context of these findings, an important first strategy to discourage inactivity anchors may be to make people aware of their activity hindering influence. This holds particularly true for inactive or overprotective parents who should be encouraged to play actively with their children instead of just watching them.

Secondly, there is a difference in the way adults and children are physically active. While adults had very structured forms of physical activity, children were more spontaneous and played and ‘celebrated’ physical activity in form of playful, boisterous group activity. A possible explanation might therefore be that children perceive physical activity as something that is separated from other activities by a specific, self-referential use of rules, spaces, and time structures [39]. The coupling of intrinsically verbal motivation with ongoing playful activity may lead to a change in experiencing the duration in the sense that these children and adolescents simply forget about time. This nullification of every-day life time structures is an important aspect of children’s games [40]. The observation that groups of children who play together do not seem to fatigue and are physically active longer goes in line with the findings by Scarapicchia and colleagues [41] who suggest that intrinsic motivation seems to spread and has a beneficial outcome on willingness to be physically active for longer. This observation might also explain why even large children groups were physically active in contrast to large adult groups.

Among adult groups, physical activity tended therefore to be an unsocial and functional activity. In other words, adults seem to have lost their sense of joyful, physically active play. Physical activity in adulthood appears to have rather functional purposes and is limited to shorter intense intervals, even in leisure settings. This goes in line with several recent studies which have suggested that adults (starting already at college age) increasingly perceive physical activity in general and especially exercise mostly as a lonely individual activity that is mainly driven by extrinsic motivations, such as health and attractiveness [42]. This represents a challenge for public health and health promotional specialists, particularly given that physical activity which is embedded in a social network is one of the most beneficial health factors [43]. Reframing the way in which adults think about physical activity – as a fun rather than function activity – may be a strategy for health promotion and social marketing initiatives which aim to stimulate activity both in adult and child groups [12].

A potential strategy could be to use fun and spontaneous activities for people of all ages and body-weights in order to engage them in more activity at leisure settings. An example could be ‘discovery paths’ in leisure settings which invite all visitors to actively explore the water, the beach, and the area together in groups by walking, climbing, and jumping. A further example would be game activities in groups such as ball games. Correspondingly, Kilpatrick and colleagues point out that motives for joyful play activities such as team sports “are more desirable than those for exercise and may facilitate improved adherence to physical activity” [42]. Our findings underscore the notion that in order to fully understand the complexity of causes which underlie physical inactivity one has to take an individual’s immediate social environment into account, in other words, the group with which an individual spends his or her free-time. Consequently, this study supports the view put forward by Fowler and Christakis [44] that due to “our embeddedness in social networks […] group level interventions may be more successful and more efficient than individual interventions” [44]. Specifically our findings concerning socially contagious physical activity between groups underscore this perspective. Socially contagious activity could be facilitated by providing stimuli. For instance, employees of an open air pool may encourage or ask one or two groups to start an activity as a stimulus for other groups.

Finally, although we expected that cultural settings would significantly influence physical activity behaviours in different groups across the two sites, we found only few marked differences in influencing social factors between Germany or Hawai’i. The most evident culture-related behavioural difference was the way in which individual obese people presented their body and occupied spaces. Yet, this did not directly impact their physical activity. One explanation for the lack of differences in the two cultural settings might be that we did not employ natives as observers in Hawai’i, and that the observers therefore lacked a complex understanding of certain socio-cultural mechanisms.