Cultural and Gender Effects on Israeli Children's Preferences for Activities

Abstract

Background. Knowledge about factors that affect participation, as preference of activities, has major intervention implications. Purpose. To evaluate culture and gender effects on Israeli Jewish and Druze children's preference of activities performed outside mandated school. This study used the “Preference Assessment of Children” (PAC) (King et al., 2004). Findings. On most scales, the Jewish children showed significantly less interest in activities than the Druze children. Among the Jews, girls showed higher preference in most PAC scales than boys while among the Druze girls showed higher preference than the boys only in social skills. Implications. Culture and gender may influence children's preference of activity. More studies should elaborate the knowledge about individuals' preferred activities; understanding the factors that affect these preferences may enhance occupational therapy evaluation and intervention processes. Canadian occupational therapists, as health care professionals in a multicultural society, must develop cultural competency and explore people's experience as cultural beings.