Canadian researcher Mark Holder and colleagues asked 375 children, ages 8-12, about what they did for fun, paying special attention to the amount of time the kids said they spent in “active” leisure activities—physical activities such as sports and exercise—or “passive” activities, such as sitting at a screen or talking on the phone.
Holder found that the more kids engaged in active leisure, and the more important active leisure was to them, the happier they were and the more positive they felt about themselves.