Campus sport experience as catalyst for college student adjustment and well-being

ABSTRACT

Interest in college students’ adjustment is rising along with the expansion of the well-being trend. In particular, when individuals first enter a university, they are under stress and experience various challenges due to the new environment and tasks. While participating in and spectating sports provide numerous benefits at individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and societal levels, the impact of sport-related experiences on well-being in the context of college students’ campus experiences has not been comprehensively addressed. Taking the findings into account, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of participant and spectator sport experience on college student well-being through college adjustment and college life satisfaction. A total of 304 responses were collected from students who experienced both participant and spectator sport during their first-year in college. Results showed that participating in and spectating college sport did not directly affect college students’ well-being but indirectly influence college students’ well-being via college adjustment and college life satisfaction. Given the importance of college student adjustment and college life satisfaction, the findings shed light on participant and spectator sport as imperative determinants of college life well-being as well as provide practical implications in the college setting.

KEYWORDS:

• Participant sport
• spectator sport
• well-being
• college adjustment
• college life satisfaction

Acknowledgments

The authors confirm that this study was not funded by any organization and report no potential conflict of interest.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heetae Cho

Dr. Heetae Cho is an Assistant Professor of Physical Education and Sports Science at Nanyang Technological University. The primary focus of his research is to understand leisure participants’ and sport consumers’ behavior, and a large part of his research is related to the concept of nostalgia in the contexts of sport, leisure, and tourism.