Does Being a Sport Fan Provide Meaning in Life?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Elizabeth B. Delia ◽  
Jeffrey D. James ◽  
Daniel L. Wann

Adding to research on team identification and well-being, inquiry into meaning in life and team identification could illuminate how sport fandom impacts consumers’ lives. In the current study, an instrumental case study design was used to explore how team identification impacts meaning in life, focusing on significance. Participant diaries and interviews with identified fans of a professional women’s basketball team revealed that connecting with family and friends, supporting women’s sport, and enhancing mental health via support of the team were sources of significance in participants’ lives. The findings illustrate that meaning in life is not necessarily experienced just from being a highly identified fan. Instead, specific elements of one’s connection to the team provide meaning. The findings also highlight the importance of close relationships over imaginary intimate relationships, impacting social justice among fans of women’s sport, and how mental health via fandom may provide older adults significance.

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Piers ◽  
Cheryll A Duquette

This qualitative study explored the educational journeys of five postsecondary students with learning disabilities (LD) from the perspective of the students and their families. Using a resilience lens, it examined the challenges that they faced and the capacities and resources that facilitated their resilience and helped them achieve their current level of academic achievement and mental health. A retrospective, multiple case study design was used, and a series of three interviews was conducted with each university student with an LD and their families. The participants identified a number of interactions among the students and their parents, teachers, and peers that helped shape and develop the capacities they needed in order to negotiate for the supports and resources that sustained their well-being. These capacities included an awareness and acceptance of their LD and themselves as learners, the self-advocacy skills they needed in order to seek out and negotiate for the supports and accommodations that would help them succeed, the ability to set lofty yet attainable goals, the perseverance to work toward these goals in spite of setbacks and challenges, and the willingness to use the supports and resources that were available to them.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8712
Author(s):  
Mehdi Rezaei ◽  
Doohwan Kim ◽  
Ahad Alizadeh ◽  
Ladan Rokni

The stressful lifestyle of urban dwellers has increased the demand for green-based leisure activities; considering such growing demand, this paper investigated the potential mental health benefits of agritourism activities. The assessments were based on a questionnaire survey of two groups: visitors of agritourism sites around Seoul and a control group staying home (n = 200). In addition to measuring the participants’ well-being level and stress level, they were also asked to self-estimate their immediate mood after their activities of the day. The analysis was conducted with R version 4.1.0 to explore the potential relationships and interactions between the activity of the day, perceived psychological factors, and the immediate emotional outcomes. Findings reveal that visitors to the agritourism sites perceived considerable improvement in their immediate mood compared to the control group who stayed home. Results indicate a significant interaction between self-reported wellbeing and agritourism activities and a combined effect on improved mood. Therefore, agritourism can potentially be a resource for a positive mood boost and improved mental health. The suggested practical implications can be applied as strategies to evoke the feeling of more connection to the agritourism activities and raise awareness of potential mental health outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
Kristine Klussman ◽  
Julia Langer ◽  
Austin Lee Nichols

Abstract. Background: Most people are comfortable asserting the beneficial effects of physical exercise on mental health and well-being. However, little research has examined how different types of physical activity affect these outcomes. Aims: The current study sought to provide a comprehensive understanding of the differential relationships between different types of physical activity and various aspects of health and well-being. In addition, we sought to understand the role of self-connection in these relationships. Method: One hundred forty-three participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure their current weekly activity as well as their current health and well-being. Specifically, we examined three intensities of activity (walking, moderate, and vigorous) and three types of activity (team-based, community-based, and not team nor community-based) on self-reported health, anxiety, depression, affect, flourishing, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and meaning in life. In addition, we examined self-connection as a possible moderator of these relationships. Results: Results suggested that physical activity was inconsistently related to health and well-being, and activity intensity and type were important to understanding these relationships. In contrast, self-connection reliably related to health and well-being and moderated the relationship between activity type and the presence of meaning. Limitations: The cross-sectional, self-report nature of the study limits its contribution. In addition, we only examined a subset of all physical activities that people engage in. Conclusion: In all, results suggest that the relationships between physical activity, mental health, and well-being are tenuous, at best. Future research needs to examine these relationships further and continue to examine self-connection to determine how to best increase health and well-being through physical activity.


Author(s):  
Amy Jane Griffiths ◽  
Elena Diamond ◽  
Zachary Maupin ◽  
James Alsip ◽  
Michael J. Keller ◽  
...  

The reduction of school violence requires a coordinated effort that enhances school climate and improves the sense of safety on campus. This chapter addresses the related topics of school violence, school safety, and school climate; provides an overview of the interactions among these constructs; and illustrates how they are directly linked to student mental and emotional well-being. A multidisciplinary approach is described that addresses these constructs, which are grounded in a school safety model that provides a foundation to promote students’ mental health. The process for moving toward action includes selecting an appropriate model for organizing intervention efforts, building a multidisciplinary team, developing a plan for assessment, and creating a systematic process for intervention implementation. Finally, a case study is provided to illustrate how a school district can interpret and implement these key components in the real world.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kartiki Porwal

Individuals who are socially connected are happier and healthier than their more isolated counterparts. Over the past few decades, researchers have established that both the quantity and quality of our social relationships are unequivocally important when it comes to our physical and mental health, and our risk of mortality. Although the link between social relationships and mental health is well established in a couple, we have only just begun to identify explanations for this link. Recently, social scientists have discovered that the link between social relationships and health is explained by our behaviours (e.g., smoking, exercise, diet), various psychosocial factors (e.g., social support, mental health, cultural norms), and physiological processes. Aggression in marital relationship is defined as a manipulative, physical or non-physical form of aggression meant to negatively impact the development of relationship by social exclusion or harming the social status of a victim by spreading or behaving negatively. Research findings suggest that even infrequent experiences with relational aggression victimization are associated with lower subjective well-being such as depression, loneliness, and positive affect. This case study investigates the existence of relational aggression in a couple and the relationship between relational aggression and own subjective well-being. The participant in the study is married and from nuclear family. The study tries to investigate aggression level through the case study method and relaxation, yoga, meditation techniques used which was used to resolve the aggression and helps to achieve well being.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Çağla Gür ◽  
Şerife Özbiler ◽  
Başak Eser ◽  
Hüseyin Göksu ◽  
Şahin Karasalih

This study was carried out within the scope of the Art of Happiness, Positive Thinking, and Subjective Well-Being Project. Within the scope of the project, 8-session pre-training was provided to teachers to inform them on the scope of positive thinking and in order to support their subjective well-being. Within the scope of positive thinking applications at schools, which formed the second stage of the project, teachers developed and applied their own projects at their schools. In the study, teachers' views on the scope of the projects they applied at schools and the project application process were analyzed. As the study design, the case study design was applied. The study group consisted of 28 voluntary teachers who received positive thinking training in the first stage of the project and were entitled to get a certificate of achievement. Within the scope of the study, teachers planned their projects and reported on the process. In addition, they kept researcher diaries regarding their applications and noted down their observations. In the research process, 28 teachers at 15 different schools developed and applied 17 different projects. The teachers' views were analyzed in the context of interviews, reports, and diaries. In the study, teachers' observations and evaluations regarding positive thinking education realized in the COVID-19 process were discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 025371762199101
Author(s):  
Aarti Jagannathan ◽  
Sreekanth Nair Thekkumkara ◽  
Jagadisha Thirthalli ◽  
Sekar Kasi

Background: A community participation initiative of stitching personal protective equipment (PPE), masks, and face shields for healthcare professionals working in the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted using a case study design. Methods: The hospital tailoring unit was used to cater to the in-house demand for stitching safety gear kits for healthcare professionals. A transect walk was conducted to survey hospitals for selecting material for stitching the safety gears and to draw up a plan to meet future demand. The psychiatric social worker induced a community participatory initiative using the method of social work of community organization. A flyer was prepared to invite participants with prior experience in tailoring for this initiative. All participants were trained by the master trainers of the tailoring unit. The participants were also interviewed about their views on this initiative in an informal interview. Results: A total of 83 participants, including 26 individuals (8 volunteers and 18 who received an honorarium), 2 boutiques ( n = 12), and 1 government organization, participated in the activity ( n = 45). A total of 1700 complete PPE kits and 13,000 masks were stitched during this period. The participants reported that the benefit of being a part of this initiative was reduced boredom, sense of purpose and satisfaction, and improved mental health due to structured activity. Conclusions: A community participation initiative using the principles of community organization, a method of social work, can help produce desired outputs and improve the well-being of the participants.


For most people, well-being is understood and experienced at a local scale. Their community or city is where housing, green spaces, social cohesion, mental health, and many other vital elements of well-being play out in daily life. Local governments and other stakeholders also tend to be the most willing and able to try innovative approaches. Local wins, in turn, inform and inspire action in other areas and often build to national change....


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 683-712
Author(s):  
Sadiyya Haffejee ◽  
Linda Theron

In this article we explore how individual expressions of agency are shaped by structural factors and exercised by Black African girls with child sexual abuse (CSA) histories as they navigate resilience pathways. We employed a qualitative multiple instrumental case study design and purposefully recruited seven Black African girls, between the ages of 15 and 18 years, with a history of CSA. Participants were engaged in a range of participatory methods that included participatory diagramming (time lines), digital stories, and participatory videos. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Findings highlight how agency, as a process of resilience, manifested as well as how these agentic expressions were activated, bound, and later reciprocated and sustained by the surrounding social structures.


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