Sport engagement and life satisfaction in Czech parasport athletes

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Jeffrey J. Martin ^*, Markéta Jiskrová ^**, Klára Daďová ^** and Erin E. Snapp ^*

^(*) Wayne State University Detroit, Michigan, USA
^(**) Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Citation

J. Martin, J., Jiskrová, M., Daďová, K., E. Snapp, E. (2022). Sport engagement and life satisfaction in Czech parasport athletes. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 53(1), 36-50. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2022.53.036

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to determine if grit, hardiness and resilience predicted life satisfaction and sport engagement in Parasport athletes. We sought to determine if we could replicate the results of Martin, Byrd, Watts, and Dent (2015) and Atkinson and Martin (2020). Participants were forty adults, mostly male (n = 38), Parasport ice-hockey (n = 22) or wheelchair rugby (n = 18) athletes from the Czech Republic. They ranged from 15 to 59 years (M = 32.0) old and reported acquired disabilities (n = 28) or congenital disabilities (n = 12). Descriptive results supported an affirmation model of disability as most athletes were engaged in their sport, reported a strong quality of life and had moderate to strong levels of grit, hardiness, and resilience. We accounted for 17% of the variance in sport engagement with resilience accounting for meaningful variance based on its significant beta weight. We also accounted for 52% of the variance in life satisfaction with hardiness accounting for meaningful variance based on its significant beta weight. The regression results indicate that athletes reporting the highest levels of resilience tended to also be the most engaged in their sport and athletes with high levels of hardiness reported the highest quality of life.

Keywords: wheelchair sport, physical disability, sport psychology

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