Is passive sport engagement positively associated with happiness?

Abstract

[Abstract]: Background: Previous empirical evidence has shown the positive relationship between happiness or subjective well-being (SWB) and sport participation. Nevertheless, passive sport participation has traditionally been ignored as a correlate with happiness. Methods: Based on a sample of 1,632 Spanish people, one ordered probit model and three extended ordered probit models with an ordinal endogenous covariate technique and robust standard errors were applied. Results: We find that different forms of passive sport participation—such as frequency of attending sporting events and a set of other forms of passive sports participation such as watching sports on TV, listening to sports programmes, reading sports news, and talking to others about sports—are positively associated with happiness. Conclusions: The results indicate that passive sport participation generally appears to have a closer relationship with individual happiness than active sport participation and emphasise the role played by some forms of sport participation as a source of relational goods. This current research extends the field’s understanding of sport participation and happiness, including passive participation, and the relevance of social interactions to account for this association. Finally, the relational aspect of different forms of sport participation offers new implications for the analysis of sport engagement and happiness.