The Role of Eudaimonic Motivation on the Well-Being of College Athletes: The Chain-Mediating Effect of Meaning Searching and Meaning Experience

Guangjun Wang, Wujun Sun, Lei Liu, Yuan Jiang, Xiaosheng Ding and Yuan Liu ()
Additional contact information
Guangjun Wang: Department of Physical Education, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100101, China
Wujun Sun: Faculty of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Lei Liu: School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
Yuan Jiang: Department of Psychology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Xiaosheng Ding: Faculty of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Yuan Liu: Management College, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-12

Abstract: Subjective well-being is an essential indicator for evaluating the quality of life of college athletes. According to self-determination theory, eudaimonic motivation is a positive psychological characteristic that is supposed to have a favorable influence on college athletes’ acquisition of subjective well-being. In order to examine the relationship between the two and test the mediating effects of meaning searching and meaning experience, this study investigated the relevant data of 593 college athletes from four different provinces in China. The findings are as follows: (1) the direct effect of eudaimonic motivation on college athletes’ subjective well-being was significant and positive. (2) The mediating effect of meaning searching between eudaimonic motivation and subjective well-being was nonsignificant. (3) However, meaning experience mediated the positive influence of eudaimonic motivation on subjective well-being. (4) Eudaimonic motivation was related indirectly and positively to subjective well-being via the chain-mediating effect of meaning searching and meaning experience. The present study provides empirical evidence for the relationship between positive psychological characteristics and the subjective well-being of college athletes and suggests that educators look for positive qualities to cultivate from the perspective of positive psychology, which can help to prevent psychological disorders and improve the well-being of college athletes.

Keywords: college athletes; eudaimonic motivation; subjective well-being; meaning searching; meaning experience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11598/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11598/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11598-:d:1203855

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().