Attached recreationists… who are they

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Building on previous conceptual and em-pirical work, the purpose of this investigation was to examine place attachment’s effect on several variables purportedly related to the con-struct. The place attachment construct has been used by recreation researchers and managers to explain a variety of leisure behaviors (e.g., recreationists ’ setting preferences, management preferences, activity par-ticipation). While place attachment has been examined by researchers within a variety of disciplines, most definitions focus on the bonds that humans share with specific settings. In the leisure literature, most conceptualizations have focused on two dimensions of attachment: place identity and place dependence. Place dependence is said to capture recreationists ’ setting attachments that are instrumental and goal related, particularly with regard to the setting’s ability to facilitate desired leisure experiences. Place identity, on the other hand, captures recreationists’ emotional and affective bonds with the setting