This study aims to seek an understanding of how leisure activities shape young adults' identity by conducting a comparative study between young adults who come from households with different socio-economic conditions. This study also focuses on the factors that play a role in how young adults choose to spend their spare time and how the shaping of young adults' identities takes place through it. The empirical data has been collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews with young adults from affluent and deprived areas aged 17–18. The participants have shared thoughts about leisure activities and youth culture, among other things. This study is based on Erving Goffman's theory about dramaturgy and Bourdieu's theories of capital, habitus and field.
The study's results show that there is a clear difference in how young adults from different areas spend their spare time. The results show that young people from affluent areas think that it is important to stay busy in a leisure activity such as handball, hockey and football and it was clear that team sports are a popular trend. A popular trend that was seen among young people from socio-economically disadvantaged areas was evening activities where, for example, activities such as evening walks, park hangouts and neighborhood hangouts are included. Young people from socio-economically disadvantaged areas also feel a stronger sense of belonging to their neighborhoods and therefore spend their free time in these places