Social Reward and Support Effects on Exercise Experiences and Performance: Evidence from Parkrun

Abstract

Background: There is growing academic, civic and policy interest in the public health benefits of community-based exercise events. Shifting the emphasis from competitive sport to communal activity, these events have wide appeal, including among those new to sport or exercise. In addition to health benefits of physical activity, regular participation can reduce social isolation and loneliness through opportunities for social connection. Taking a broad evolutionary and social psychological perspective, we suggest that social factors warrant more attention in current approaches to physical (in)activity and exercise behaviour. We develop and test the hypothesis that social reward and support in exercise are associated with positive exercise experiences and greater performance outputs. Methods: Using a repeated-measures survey design, we examine the influence of social behaviour (e.g., attending with others, pre-event socialising) and perceptions of social support and belonging on subjective enjoyment, energy, fatigue, effort, and objective performance (run times) among a UK sample of parkrun participants.Results: Social factors were associated with greater subjective enjoyment and energy. Higher subjective energy, in turn, was associated with faster run times, without any corresponding increase in perceived effort. No significant main effects of social factors on fatigue, performance or effort were detected. Conclusions: The role of social structural factors has long been recognised in public health approaches to physical activity. Our results motivate greater research attention on how positive and rewarding social behaviours and experiences – particularly subjective enjoyment and energy, and perceptions of community social support and belonging - influence exercise-related behaviour, psychology and physiology, and promote health through collective physical activity. Approaching community exercise as a powerful context for social collaboration, reward and belonging also supplements the traditional focus on social facilitation and team sport that has dominated social psychological approaches within the sport and exercise sciences, and offers new avenues for understanding the deep connections among psychological, social and physical function in everyday health.