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ERIC Number: EJ1120072
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0270-1367
EISSN: N/A
Sport and Recreation Are Associated with Happiness across Countries
Balish, Shea M.; Conacher, Dan; Dithurbide, Lori
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, v87 n4 p382-388 2016
Purpose: Preliminary findings suggest sport participation is positively associated with happiness. However, it is unknown if this association is universal and how sport compares to other leisure activities in terms of an association with happiness. This study had 3 objectives: (a) to test if sport membership is associated with happiness, (b) to test if this relationship is universal, and (c) to compare sport membership to other leisure activities. Method: Hierarchal Bernoulli modeling was used to analyze the 6th wave (2014) of the World Values Survey (n[subscript Ss] = 67,736, n[subscript countries] = 48). The critical variables included measures of membership in different leisure activities (e.g., sport membership) and self-reported happiness. Results: Even when controlling for known covariates such as perceived health, those who report sport/recreation membership are more likely to report being happy compared with non-sport members (OR = 1.38; 95% CI [1.24, 1.53]). Being a member of a sport organization had a greater association with happiness than did being a member of other leisure activities. Follow-up analyses suggested that this association is nearly universal. Conclusions: This study offers initial evidence that sport membership elicits happiness across many different societies. Although the causal direction remains unclear, this study establishes a positive association between happiness and sport membership. Future research should target the mechanism(s) of this effect, which we hypothesize are meaningful social relations.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Africa; Asia; Australia; New Zealand; North America; South America
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A