A pink dog with 20 legs - An explorative study on the beliefs of elementary school children explaining engagement in artistic leisure activities

摘要

Drawing, painting and doing handicraft rank among the most widespread leisure activities of children and are assumed to have positive effects on their development. Moreover, artistic activities are a form of societally valued cultural participation. Nevertheless, many children do not voluntarily engage in any such activities. To foster artistic participation with its assumed positive developmental effects, it is necessary to know the beliefs of children that explain their engagement in these activities. To systematically explore these beliefs, an interview study based on the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 2012) was conducted with N = 26 elementary school children. The interviews were content analyzed using a deductive-inductive procedure, resulting in a differentiated set of categories comprising the children’s beliefs explaining artistic leisure time activities (Cohen’s Kappa = .91). Content validity of the generated set of categories and implications for further research are discussed. (DIPF/Orig.)