Recreation Participation Among Residents in the Nigerian Town of Bida

Attitudes are essentially important in determining a people's peculiarities and response to services provided. This study, entitled 'assessment of residents' attitudes towards recreation in Bida-Nigeria' was achieved through field observation and the administration of 969 structured questionnaires using systematic sampling to select respondents from four strata of men, women, youths and children in Cheniyan and Nassarafu wards. With the aid of the SPSS and EXCEL packages, data were coded and presented in statistical diagrams and tables, and analyzed using percentage, Chi-Square Test and the Spearman's Rank Correlation. Study evidence revealed that though residents commonly preferred recreational activities such as dancing, gardening, walking, traditional recreation and football, they were constrained from participating in active recreation due to pre-occupation with family and fear of sustaining injuries. The result of the Chi-Square Test, which showed that men and women demonstrated poor attitudes towards physical exercises, confirmed that finding, and revealed that though gender did not influence residents' attitudes towards active recreation, occupation and marital status did.