ABSTRACT
The concept of the ‘life course’ views the individual life as a journey from birth to death. One element of the life course approach is that of the family life cycle. The life course includes parallel ‘careers’ of which the familial and work are most commonly defined as central to understanding life’s meanings and contexts. The life course model assumes some continuity as well as disruption in various strands of life’s investments and contexts. The life course model does not account for all variations in leisure participation or meaning any more than do oversimplistic work or social status determination models. In addition to the role changes of family, work and leisure, this life course approach has increasingly incorporated a developmental orientation. The role identity approach assumes both continuity and change through the life course. When traumas disrupt the anticipated course of life, leisure may gain in salience.
