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The study, published in Frontiers in Public Health, looked at data from a survey of 7,209 16- to 85-year-old people living in England. The survey asked participants questions about their lives and well-being, and included questions about whether they attended sporting events.
The analysis showed that attending a live sporting event made for higher self-reported scores on life satisfaction and lower scores on loneliness. Participants who had attended a live sporting event within the past year were more likely to report that their lives were worthwhile — adding a live game into the mix predicted higher self-reported life satisfaction than some demographic factors, such as age or employment, that can indicate how worthwhile someone finds their life.
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Again, caveats of social research apply, but this is something many have experienced. Here's the paper. in Frontiers of Public Health
Attending live sporting events predicts subjective wellbeing and reduces loneliness
Helen Keyes*, Sarah Gradidge, Nicola Gibson, Annelie Harvey, Shyanne Roeloffs, Magdalena Zawisza and Suzanna Forwood
Introduction: This study explored whether attending live sporting events (LSEs) improved subjective wellbeing and loneliness, above and beyond demographic predictors.
Methods: Secondary data from 7,249 adults from the Taking Part 2019–20 survey (UK household survey of participation in culture and sport) were analyzed. Multiple linear regressions captured the effect of attending LSEs (yes/no) on wellbeing variables (happiness, anxiety, a sense that life is worthwhile and life satisfaction) and loneliness, with gender, Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), age group, health and employment as covariates.
Results: For life satisfaction, a sense that life is worthwhile, and loneliness, inclusion of LSE attendance in the model improved model fit significantly, although ΔR2 values were small (ΔR2 = 0.001–0.003). For happiness and anxiety, the inclusion of LSE attendance did not alter model fit. LSE attendance was associated with increased life satisfaction (b = 0.171, p < 0.001), a greater sense of life being worthwhile (b = 0.230, p < 0.001), and reduced loneliness (b = −0.083, p < 0.01).
Conclusion: LSE attendance has positive associations with some aspects of subjective wellbeing (life satisfaction and a sense of life being worthwhile) and loneliness, above and beyond demographic predictors. Whilst the variance explained is small, it is comparable to demographic predictors (e.g., being in employment). As even small-sized differences in SWB can have meaningful outcomes (e.g., for mortality), we conclude that LSE attendance may still offer a scalable, accessible and effective means of improving the public's wellbeing and reducing loneliness.
unfair and just plain anti-female
There's a difference between biological sex and gender. I'm supportive of trans-rights when gender is the only criteria. That isn't true in sport - there's a reason for age divisions, weight divisions, and the male-female sex division. There's overriding evidence for a male advantage that takes place during puberty. Depending on the sport a biological male performing in the middle of male performance can outperform a biological female world champion. Testosterone reduction therapies only don't change the equation much. Trans-women are removing opportunity from biological female athletes. Some federations are going with biological female and open divisions, most are waiting and watching, and some - like this one - are prioritizing inclusitivioty over fairness to biological females.
There's a big worry over lawsuits by trans-women. I suspect we'll have to see serious lawsuits and boycotts from biological women to make a point. Trans-woman can still compete - properly in an open category that includes biological men who happen to be biologically similar.
05:16 in Current Affairs, General Commentary, Sports | Permalink | Comments (0)