Journal of International Business and Economics

How Practicing Sport Affects Our levels of Well-Being?
María Caballer-Tarazona, Rafael Alís, Cristina Pardo-García

Abstract
Recently, economists have been increasingly interested in analyzing different variables that may affect subjective well-being (SWB), e.g., income, work, political and social environment, or habits. This paper attempts to ascertain if practicing sport and other hobbies explains higher levels of SWB. In order to control these variables, a homogenous sample of researchers and teachers from Italian Universities was used. Then, a comparison is established with another sample of Spanish students to see if there is any generational effect. Subjects of both samples answered a questionnaire on socio-demographic data, habits and SWB (measured by the “Life Satisfaction scale” and the “Psychological General Well-Being (PGWB) test”). A relation between practicing sport and SWB was found in the teacher sample. However, no relation between practicing hobbies and SWB was observed. Practicing sports is significant to explain SWB only in the teacher sample. These results must be considered to help design prevention policies in the public health field since practicing sport is an easy and cheap way to prevent or improve psychological diseases, and to generally improve citizens’ quality of life.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jibe.v3n2a6