Hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in athletes: Beyond athletic identity, are positive personality variables important for understanding well-being in student-athletes?

Abstract

The present study examined the role of optimism and hope as predictors of subjective well-being and psychological well-being in a sample of 203 student-athletes participating in competitive sport. Results from conducting a series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated athletic identity (e.g., encouragement from others, competence) accounted for unique variance in all indices of both subjective and psychological well-being. Moreover, independent of athletic identity, the set of positive personality variables, namely, optimism and hope, was found to account for additional unique variance in all indices of well-being. For all indices of well-being, optimism was found to be a significant predictor. Similarly, hope agency, but not hope pathways, was found to be a significant predictor for most of the indices of well-being examined. Taken together, the present findings are not only among the first to be based on the assessment of well-being in athletes using a range of different indices of both subjective and psychological well-being, but they are the first to demonstrate the importance of integrating the study of optimism and hope for understanding well-being in athletes.