Department of Educational Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44240, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 21;20(3):1990. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20031990.
The climate in which older adults exercise and participate in sport may play a role in promoting a lifetime commitment to exercising. However, little research has examined the relationship of caring (C) and task-involving (TI) climates, motivation, and well-being with respect to older adult athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Masters swimmers' perceptions of the climate, effort, enjoyment, and flourishing as well as explore the mediating effects of effort and enjoyment on the relationship between climate and flourishing. U.S. Masters swimmers ( = 294; = 63.57 years; 84.40% White) with 1-80 years of swimming experience ( = 34.54 years) participating in coach-led programs completed an online survey. The results of latent variable, multiple-mediator analyses via structural equation modeling revealed two important contributions to the literature: (1) when Masters swimmers perceived that they were in C and TI climates, they were more likely to report higher levels of effort and greater enjoyment and flourishing; (2) the Masters swimmers' effort levels directly influenced their flourishing, mediating the relationship between climates and flourishing. This research has important implications for practice and policy, as U.S. Masters Swimming appears to be a fruitful avenue for promoting an enjoyable physical activity that can be experienced throughout a lifetime.
老年人进行锻炼和参与体育运动的环境可能对促进他们一生坚持锻炼起着重要作用。然而，很少有研究调查过关怀（C）和任务投入（TI）氛围、动机和幸福感与老年运动员之间的关系。本研究的目的是检验成年游泳运动员对环境的感知、努力程度、享受度和繁荣感之间的关系，以及探索努力程度和享受度对环境与繁荣感之间关系的中介作用。美国成年游泳运动员（n=294；年龄=63.57 岁；84.40%为白人）具有 1-80 年的游泳经验（=34.54 年），参加教练主导的项目，完成了在线调查。通过结构方程模型进行的潜在变量、多重中介分析的结果为文献做出了两个重要贡献：（1）当成年游泳运动员感知到他们处于关怀和任务投入的环境中时，他们更有可能报告更高的努力程度、更大的享受度和更高的繁荣感；（2）成年游泳运动员的努力程度直接影响他们的繁荣感，从而调节了环境与繁荣感之间的关系。这项研究对实践和政策具有重要意义，因为美国成年游泳似乎是促进可以终生享受的愉快体育活动的一个有成效的途径。
