Well-being of sport club members: the role of pro-environmental behavior in sport and clubs’ environmental quality

ABSTRACT

Individuals’ mental health and subjective well-being have become increasingly important in public health policy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of pro-environmental behavior in sport and clubs’ perceived environmental quality on the subjective well-being of sport club members in Germany. Data were collected using an online survey of club members in five team/racket sports (i.e., basketball, football, handball, ice hockey, and tennis; n = 3,038). The outcome of interest is subjective well-being which is measured with the WHO-5 scale. Pro-environmental behavior in sport is captured by the monthly carbon footprint resulting from traveling to training sessions and pro-environmental actions in sport. The results of regression analyses show that pro-environmental actions in sport have a positive effect on members’ well-being. Individuals producing a higher carbon footprint when traveling to training sessions report lower well-being, but the effect is overlapped by pro-environmental actions in sport. Members who perceived their clubs’ environmental quality as higher scored higher on well-being. The number of weekly sport hours had an inverse u-shaped effect on well-being, with the diminishing returns by additional sport hours being offset by pro-environmental actions. Collectively, these findings suggest that protecting the natural environment goes hand in hand with individuals’ well-being and public health goals in the field of mental health.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Survey data from sport club members in Germany are used.

• The lower the carbon footprint from traveling to training, the higher the well-being.

• Pro-environmental actions and clubs’ environmental quality improve well-being.

• Pro-environmental actions in sport overlap the carbon footprint.

• They also offset diminishing returns from increasing weekly sport hours.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon footprint
• environment
• mental health
• non-profit organization
• public health
• sport organization

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the following students who assisted with the data collection and cleaning: Jannis Becker, Niklas Hunold, Marten Neppert, Felix Pföhler, Florian Pompino, and Simon Zimmermann.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

¹ Carpooling cannot be considered as the emission factor for passenger cars is fixed at an average of 1.5 persons/car (Federal Environmental Office, 2018). The aspect of carpooling was considered in the pro-environmental actions scale (item 8).