Enhancing Older Adults’ Sense of Belonging and Subjective Well-Being Through Sport Game Attendance, Team Identification, and Emotional Support

Yuhei Inoue, Daniel L. Wann, Daniel Lock, Mikihiro Sato, Christopher Moore, Daniel C. Funk

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Abstract

Objective: We investigate how (a) attendance at sport games and (b) identification with a sport team as fans (i.e., team identification) influence older adults’ perceptions of emotional support, belonging, and subjective well-being (SWB). Method: An experimental pilot study was conducted with 50 older adults, followed by a main survey study administered to 534 older adults from various communities across the United States. Results: Pilot study results indicated that game attendance and team identification had a positive and significant influence on older adults’ perceptions of emotional support from fellow team fans. These results were replicated in the main study, which also showed that older adults’ perceived emotional support from fellow fans was positively associated with their sense of belonging which predicted their SWB. Discussion: The findings provide insights into how older adults may be engaged in meaningful forms of social life to help them maintain and enhance mental health.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalJournal of aging and health
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2019

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Sports
well-being
fan
Mental Health
team sports
mental health
community
Surveys and Questionnaires

Keywords

  • belonging
  • group identification
  • older adults
  • spectator sport
  • subjective well-being

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article

Cite this

Enhancing Older Adults’ Sense of Belonging and Subjective Well-Being Through Sport Game Attendance, Team Identification, and Emotional Support. / Inoue, Yuhei; Wann, Daniel L.; Lock, Daniel; Sato, Mikihiro; Moore, Christopher; Funk, Daniel C.

In: Journal of aging and health, 01.01.2019.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Inoue, Y, Wann, DL, Lock, D, Sato, M, Moore, C & Funk, DC 2019, 'Enhancing Older Adults’ Sense of Belonging and Subjective Well-Being Through Sport Game Attendance, Team Identification, and Emotional Support', Journal of aging and health. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264319835654
Inoue Y, Wann DL, Lock D, Sato M, Moore C, Funk DC. Enhancing Older Adults’ Sense of Belonging and Subjective Well-Being Through Sport Game Attendance, Team Identification, and Emotional Support. Journal of aging and health. 2019 Jan 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264319835654
Inoue, Yuhei ; Wann, Daniel L. ; Lock, Daniel ; Sato, Mikihiro ; Moore, Christopher ; Funk, Daniel C. / Enhancing Older Adults’ Sense of Belonging and Subjective Well-Being Through Sport Game Attendance, Team Identification, and Emotional Support. In: Journal of aging and health. 2019.
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