The Role of Sports in the Subjective Psychological Well-Being of Hungarian Adult Population in Three Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tamás Laczkó; Pongrác Ács; Kata Morvay-Sey; Bence Cselik; Miklós Stocker

doi:10.3390/ijerph20010660

The Role of Sports in the Subjective Psychological Well-Being of Hungarian Adult Population in Three Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 30;20(1):660. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010660.

Authors

Tamás Laczkó¹, Pongrác Ács^{2

3}, Kata Morvay-Sey³, Bence Cselik³, Miklós Stocker⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Health Insurance, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Vörösmarty u.3, 7621 Pécs, Hungary.
² Physical Activity Research Team, Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Ifjúság útja 20, 7624 Pécs, Hungary.
³ Institute of Physiotherapy and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Vörösmarty u.3, 7621 Pécs, Hungary.
⁴ Institute of Strategy and Management, Corvinus University of Budapest, Fővám tér 8, 1093 Budapest, Hungary.

Abstract

(1) Background: In this study, sport and subjective psychological well-being is investigated in three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. (2) Methods: We have conducted three different representative sample surveys (n = 3600 altogether) on the Hungarian adult population and investigated the sample's subjective psychological well-being with the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, as well as changes in their subjective well-being through the different waves of the pandemic. Sporting habits and socio-economic variables were also surveyed, and OLS regression models were created focused on the WHO-5 measures. (3) Results: The subjective psychological well-being of the Hungarian adult population decreased significantly, but in the second and third wave of pandemic restrictions, an increase in subjective psychological well-being has been measured. The relationships between the time spent on doing sports and subjective psychological well-being were significant in each pandemic waves. The highest subjective psychological well-being and its highest increase were reported by those who could increase their time spent on doing sports as well. (4) Conclusions: The relationships between the sports activities, physical health, size of settlement, changes in income and subjective psychological well-being of the Hungarian adult population were significant in all three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; WHO-5; physical activity; sports; subjective psychological well-being.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Habits
Humans
Hungary / epidemiology
Pandemics
Psychological Well-Being

Grants and funding

The research was financed by the Thematic Excellence Program 2021 Health Sub-programme of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology in Hungary, within the framework of the EGA-10 project of the University of Pécs.