“You Can Sit in the Middle or Be One of the Outliers”: Older Male Athletes and the Complexities of Social Comparison

Abstract

Sporting events for older adults are proliferating in both popularity and participation numbers, mirroring the growth that is occurring globally with an aging population. Preliminary evidence indicates that older athletes have a tendency to compare themselves (in terms of their performance, participation, and aging) to inactive older adults deemed “worse-off.” Our aim was to examine the stories and experiences of older, male Masters athletes, not only in terms of their own lives and in relation to others but also in the broader context of current (neoliberal) policies that promote sport across the lifespan. We use social comparison theory to interpret our findings and highlight the strengths and limitations of social comparison as a psychological strategy. For this study, 17 male competitive athletes (age range from 70 to 90 years) who participated in either the 2013 or 2017 World Masters Games were interviewed as part of a larger project on the meaning of sport in their lives. Seven different sports were represented, and participants hailed from multiple countries. Within the interpretive paradigm, we used qualitative methods to interview each participant, analyze individual transcripts, and develop common themes across the data set to address the aforementioned aims. Our two major themes were, Sport as social comparison:“It’s the competitive nature” and Downward comparisons. A number of participants commented on the nature of sport, and competitive sport in particular, as being important to their motivation to train and prepare. Within the theme of Downward comparisons, we established two categories: Resisting loss and Assigning blame. While downward comparisons were used by our participants to separate themselves from other seniors of the same age, thereby bolstering their sense of self, participants also tied those comparisons to neoliberal notions of individual and moral responsibility for health. Participants believed that compromised health was due to individual negligence and bad decisions, with little reference to uncontrollable factors, such as non-modifiable risk factors for disease, disability, and/or socioeconomic status, which could be affecting people’s lives or decisions. Ultimately, our findings show that the useful psychological strategy of social comparison for maintaining a positive sense of self and performance may also have some negative individual and societal consequences.

The Masters athlete in Olympic weightlifting: Training, lifestyle, health challenges, and gender differences

“…Physical, psychological and social benefits for competitive athletes in a variety of sports have been investigated in older adults [22] and perceptions of such benefits have been examined for participants at World Masters Games [26,27]. While prior studies have focused on older athletes competing at the world championships level (6,8,11), it is equally important to understand the benefits and obstacles of Masters sports at a broader, mass-participation level.…”

“…The sport of weightlifting has been growing in recent years with participants at all ages, many without prior experience in weightlifting, and some without being physically active for many years. In this sense, the rapidly expanding Masters weightlifting phenomenon can be seen as a challenge to negative stereotypes of aging that include increasing affliction by disease and poor quality of life [ 26 , 28 ]. Surveyed participants are motivated to stay engaged by a strong desire to train; they enjoy the social interactions, and their increased strength that they can apply to more safely perform daily living activities.…”

Weightlifting during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Transnational Study Regarding Motivation, Barriers, and Coping of Master Athletes

“…Women were more likely to select managing physical and mental health as a reason to exercise during the pandemic. Physical and psychological benefits and overcoming barriers due to health were aspects identified in a study on Master athletes participating in World Master Games [26,27]. Physical and mental health were also valued by younger participants in a university population with a high commitment to physical activity [9].…”

How Heavy Lifting Lightens Our Lives: Content Analysis of Perceived Outcomes of Masters Weightlifting

“…Most research studies in the realm of psychosocial effects of sport on older adults focus on smaller age ranges [e.g., over 65- (Eman, 2012), or in their 70s - (Grant, 2001)], or study men and women separately (Drummond, 2008;Dionigi et al, 2011;Horton et al, 2018Horton et al, , 2019, and use convenience samples such as participants in the World Masters Games. Our study adds to the existing literature by comparing comments by gender and among a wide range of age from middle age to older adults within a single sample from the same larger population of Masters weightlifters.…”

“…In contrast, women tended to focus on their capabilities, and see themselves as "members of an empowered aging collective" (Eman, 2012). In a paired set of studies looking at social comparisons made by female (Horton et al, 2018) and male (Horton et al, 2019) WMG athletes, the men tended to rely on "negative role models" of less healthy, less active age peers as a way to "bolster their own psychological mindset and sense of self " (Horton et al, 2019), while the women tended to view themselves as positive role models, and hoped that by sharing their passion with friends and other age peers they "would inspire others to become more active" (Horton et al, 2018). In a quantitative study of Masters swimmers, men were significantly more likely than women to mention recognition for competitive achievement, while women were more likely to endorse stress relief, social affiliation, and opportunities for testing and self-assessment (Young et al, 2015).…”