Abstract
The topics of serious leisure and subjective well-being have been discussed extensively in previous research. It is generally acknowledged that people prefer to experience deeper satisfaction and happiness through serious participation in leisure-time physical activities. However, it is essential to examine the relationship between serious leisure and subjective well-being in an urban setting as well as the mediating effect of leisure satisfaction. Data were collected from 447 recreational runners at the 2018 Wuxi International Marathon event in China. The study results showed that serious leisure was positively associated with leisure satisfaction and subjective well-being, that leisure satisfaction was positively associated with subjective well-being, and that leisure satisfaction completely mediated the relationship between serious leisure and subjective well-being. Running group membership significantly affected the path from serious leisure to leisure satisfaction, while other demographic variables (e.g., gender and education) did not moderate any paths. These results help explain the intricate relationship between serious leisure and subjective well-being and offer theoretical and managerial implications for serious leisure.
Highlights
Due to rapid economic development and improvements in living conditions, leisure has become an essential part of life for urban residents in China
In order to ensure the seriousness of the marathon runners, this study investigated marathon runners who reported running more than three times a week, had run in the past 6 months, and had run more than 5 km once, based on the operational definition suggested in existing studies (Zhou et al, 2017; Qiu et al, 2019)
This study further extends the application of the serious leisure (SL) framework to the leisure sports context among Chinese distance running event participants
Summary
Due to rapid economic development and improvements in living conditions, leisure has become an essential part of life for urban residents in China. Previous literatures documented the benefits of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) among working adults, clinical populations, deprived communities, children, and older people (Guicciardi et al, 2019; Paggi et al, 2016; Wiese et al, 2018; Won et al, 2020). Under such circumstances, LTPA has rapidly become one of the top choices among many different groups of people pursuing a healthy life. Statistical data indicate that in 2017, approximately 1,100 marathon events involving nearly 5 million participants were held in China, representing an increase of 2.2 million participants compared with the numbers in 2016 (Xiong, 2017)
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