Leisurely encounters: Exploring the links between neighborhood context, leisure time activity and adolescent development

Youth is a period where a significant amount of leisure time is met with an expanding array of options of how to spend this time. While structured and often adult-controlled programs are considered developmentally beneficial, disadvantaged and minority youth tend to reside in neighborhoods with fewer high quality resources and higher risk of exposure to detrimental influences. But we currently have limited knowledge of how youth growing up in the same disadvantaged neighborhood get involved in positive or negative activities. Drawing on two studies - one socio-spatial study of the leisure time activities of immigrant male adolescents (n = 14) and a developmental study of a similar group of immigrant young men (n = 11) who grew up in the same poor neighborhood in Dortmund, Germany, this paper examines the influence of neighborhood context and leisure time behavior on development. Our findings highlight the potential importance of informal activities for providing access to institutional supports.