Subjective well-being in European countries—on the age-specific impact of physical activity

Abstract

As an attempt to measure the 'experienced' utility of individuals in economics, the investigation of individuals' subjective well-being (SWB) was pioneered by Van Praag and Frijters (1999) and Kahneman et al. (1999). Since then, a number of studies has analysed the factors associated with SWB and policy makers are now recognising the importance of SWB as a policy target, with the implication being that one could target its factors associated with increase in the overall SWB in countries. However, despite its significance to economies, and increasing policy relevance, investigations on the impact of sport and physical activity on SWB are relatively rare [e.g. Rasciute and Downward in Kyklos 63(2):256-270, 2010]. More specifically, despite sports participation and engagement in physical activity having a strong age-specific profile (Breuer et al. in Eur Rev Aging Phys Act 7:61-70, 2010;Hinrichs et al. in Eur J Sport Soc 6(1):49-57, 2010; Mechling and Netz in European Rev Aging Physical Activity 6(2):89-97, 2009), there is no study that investigates whether the magnitude of this impact is age-specific. Consequently, this paper seeks to make a unique contribution to the existing literature by exploring the age-specific effects of physical activity on SWB for a broad crosssection of 19 European countries. Overall, the results suggest that engagement in physical activity generally contributes to the SWB of individuals on a European level but that significant age-specific differences exist.

Structural Social Capital, Household Income and Life Satisfaction: The Evidence from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong-Province, China

“…Social participation is also significantly related to life satisfaction, in line with what was revealed in earlier studies (Putnam 2000;Helliwell and Putnam 2005;Pawlowski et al 2011) and the hypothesis H3. In particular, the results from multilevel analysis indicate that this positive association between social participation and life satisfaction changes along with household income.…”

“…The correlation between participation in social activities and life satisfaction is well evidenced (e.g., Lim and Putnam 2010;Putnam 2000;Helliwell and Putnam 2005). Studies have found that the frequencies of attending social events, including team sports, eating out and participating in religious activities are associated with life satisfaction and community cohesion (Lee and Park 2010;Leyden et al 2011;Lim and Putnam 2010;Pawlowski et al 2011;Rasciute and Downward 2010). For instance, Leyden et al (2011) find that chances of participating in voluntary activities and access to cultural and leisure facilities are positively related to happiness.…”

Be Happy in your Work: The Role of Positive Psychology in Working with Change and Performance

“…For example, people who report higher levels of happiness undertake more physical activity (e.g. Pawlowski, Downward, & Rasciute, 2011), report more moderate levels of alcohol and smoking involvement (e.g. Piper, Kenford, Fiore, & Baker, 2012) and increased social connections (Kok et al, 2013).…”

The monetary value of the demonstration effect of professional sports

“…Sport participation itself can lead to benefits in physical (Humphreys, MacLeod, & Ruseski, 2011) and mental health Pawlowski, Downward, & Rasciute, 2011;Rasciute & Downward, 2010). According to Preuß et al (2012), over 20% of the German population only participates in sports between three times a month and once a year.…”