Underlying much of the literature on leisure constraints is the assumption that the constraints that people report do, in fact, act as barriers to participation. However, to date, there has been a lack of research which has examined this issue. In this study, data from the Canada Fitness Survey were used to test the relationship between reported intervening constraints and participation in physically active leisure. The influence of social structural constraints (as indicated by demographic information) on participation was also examined. The data set included information on eleven reported constraints, participation level, and demographic status for a sample of 14,674 respondents, all of whom had indicated a preference for higher levels of participation. Analysis showed that, of the eleven constraints, only two were associated with lower levels of participation. All other reported constraints showed no relationship with participation or were associated with increased levels of participation. On the other hand, the social structural constraints (namely age, gender, lifestyle, occupational status, and income) were all found to be related to level of participation. These findings challenge the assumption that reported constraints lead to reduced participation in leisure. A better understanding of leisure constraints may be gained through greater attention to social structures and to social theory.
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