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Abstract While research indicates that leisure is an important source of both family cohesion and conflict, comparatively little attention has been given to the development of conceptual models which define the nature and operation of leisure barriers. Traditionally, barriers have been assumed to constitute intervening variables in the leisure preference‐participation relationship. This paper suggests that the prevailing conceptualization of leisure barriers addresses only one of the ways in which barriers may be associated with preferences and participation. The model proposed in this paper considers barriers to be of three types: (1) intrapersonal barriers, wherein the primary relationship of importance is between preferences and barriers; (2) interpersonal barriers, which result from either the non‐correspondence of individuals’ intrapersonal barriers or from the behavioral patterning of interpersonal relations, thus indicating a relationship with both preferences and participation; and (3) structural barriers, or leisure barriers as they have been traditionally conceptualized. Implications for research are considered.