Abstract

SCHMIDT, Vanina et al. What is Involved in Enjoying Sport? Presentation of an Instrument for its Evaluation. Divers.: Perspect. Psicol. [online]. 2022, vol.18, n.1, pp.259-277.  Epub Jan 01, 2022. ISSN 1794-9998.  https://doi.org/10.15332/22563067.6009.

Enjoyment is one of the strongest motives to engage in a sports activity, but how can this construct be conceptually and operationally defined? This study aimed to investigate, with a mixed approach, the components of enjoyment in sport. In the first study, federated athletes from the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (MABA, Argentina) participated (n = 9). A semi-structured interview was conducted, and the categories that describe the enjoyment experience were identified, such as positive affect, involvement, and autotelic experience. Participants also reported feeling fulfilled on a personal level. On the other hand, the second study involved 362 young people (57.2% men and 42.8% women) aged 14 to 29 from different MABA clubs. For this study, the categories of the first study were operationalized through 29 items, with a Likert-type scale of five points of agreement. The exploratory factorial analysis yielded two factors that explained 58.8% of the variance through 17 items. The reliability of each subscale was high. Enjoyment can be assessed through two subscales: positive affect and involvement. An additional factor emerged from the analyses: the sense of personal fulfillment. The factors of enjoyment correlated positively with the latter, with the engagement in the sport and with the total flow. Subsequent studies will reveal other indicators of the validity of the scale and its use in various contexts.

Keywords : enjoyment; sport; involvement; personal fulfillment.

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