English Report

How teenage girls spend their leisure time

In this report, the results of a survey about how teenage girls spend their leisure time will be analysed. About fifteen girls between sixteen and eighteen years old were interviewed.

v Time spent in leisure:

More than by far the largest proportion of teenage girls would like to have more leisure time: this is indicated by the fact that a majority of them would like to do an activity but do not have enough time to do it. Moreover, two in four of them have less than one hour per day of leisure time. We can also consider the fact that a majority of girls don’t sleep as much as they should: three in four sleep between six and eight hours per night and are tired all day long.

v Favourite activities:

Ø Sports:

A large majority of those questioned practise at least one sport. A significant number do muscle-building exercises, ten percent do team sports like volleyball, basketball and handball, some do badminton, table tennis or tennis. Half of those who practise a sport spend around three to six hours per week in this.

All these results show that teenage girls are fond of sport activities.

Ø Music:

Listening to music is the favourite activity of three in ten persons. A large proportion of them listen to music more than two hours per day. Two in four play the piano, a small number play the flute or the clarinet. The musicians are divided into those who play once a week (generally during the weekend) and others who play every day.

So we can conclude that a lot of teenage girls are keen on listening to music but not many really play an instrument.

Ø Television:

Television is very popular among students. This is implied by the following facts: First, watching television is the favourite activity of one out of three teenage girls. Secondly, a significant number of girls watch it more than two hours per day; and if girls had the choice between watching television or reading a book, the majority of them would choose watching television.

Ø Doing nothing:

The largest proportion on girls surveyed answered that they sometimes do nothing, because it permits them to relax after the classes. Sleeping in the favourite “sport” of twenty percent of girls. This illustrates the fact that teenagers like doing nothing.

v Culture:

Students don’t go very often to cinema, theatre, museums, …This is shown by some results: Five out of ten teenage girls go to cinema less than once a month but four out of ten of them go there once a month. In the cultural field, the second centre of interests is museums, but it’s not very popular: a majority of students go there less than once a month. Nine out of ten hardly ever go to theatre or concerts, this implies the fact that either girls can’t stand theatre and concert or they don’t have enough time to go there.

v Hobbies:

Ø Shopping:

This is the favourite activity of thirty percent of teenage girls.

Ø Collecting:

By far the largest of those questioned collect something. The most popular collection is stamp collecting. This is illustrated by the fact that about one out of three girls collects stamps. Another current collection involves perfume: about twenty percent of girls are interested in this.

Ø Visits to friends:

The majority of those surveyed go to friend’s home once a week. This illustrates the fact that girls are keen on being with friends.

Ø Phoning:

Young girls are fond of phoning, this is shown by the fact that a small number of them phone less than five minutes per day; the majority phone around twenty minutes per day.

Ø Nightclubs:

Eight in ten of those surveyed almost never go to nightclubs. This shows that they’re not popular among teenage girls (but maybe they don’t have enough time to go there).

Ø Video games:

They’re not very popular among teenage girls, because two in four never play video games and the others play between one and four hours per week.

Ø Internet:

Student girls are keen on going on the Internet. This is illustrated by the fact that a significant number of them go on the Web every time they can; and only ten percent of girls never go on the Internet.

v Holidays:

Ø Work:

Seven out of ten teenage girls have a menial job during their holidays (most baby-sit). This implies that a majority of teenagers need money.

Ø Travel:

The largest proportion of young girls travel during their holidays: most go to the seaside, some to mountains, others go to countryside or to a city. A minority travels abroad. This illustrates the fact that teenage girls don’t stay at home during their holidays but they don’t travel far away.

To sum up, we could say that teenage girls do quite varied things during their leisure time. Watching television, doing sport activities or, for example, phoning are some of their favourite activities. But the fact that teenage girls don’t have enough leisure time is undoubtedly shown.

Eleonore Duvelle