Clarifying concepts: “Well-being” in sport

Abstract

The purpose of this commentary is to critique the application of well-being in the field of sport and exercise psychology and to provide recommendations for future research. Over the last decade well-being has been an increasingly popular concept under investigation. In the field of sport and exercise psychology, numerous scholars have examined and conducted research on well-being of athletes. While this research has resulted in an abundance of findings, there is concern in how the concept of well-being was applied, defined, and measured. The construct of well-being can be traced back to two distinct perspectives, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being. These perspectives of well-being are based on different philosophical assumptions, and while they are compatible, they are theoretically distinct. In sport and exercise psychology, well-being has lacked consistent operationalization and measurement (i.e., theoretical alignment, single dimensions of hedonic or eudaimonic measured to make claims about the broader well-being constructs), is vague and loosely defined, and is often studied in isolation from a well-being perspective (i.e., no theoretical foundation). We conclude by offering three recommendations to move the field of well-being in sport research forward.

A Systematic Review with a Meta-Analysis of the Motivational Climate and Hedonic Well-Being Constructs: The Importance of the Athlete Level

“…Eudaimonic well-being unlike hedonic well-being is more disputed in terms of the key concepts needed. Readers should consider Trainor and Bundon's [14] well-being commentary to gain an understanding of eudaimonic well-being frameworks.…”

“…Hedonic or subjective well-being appeared in the literature in the 1980s along with AGT and is a meaningful psychological construct in the human experience comprised of positive and negative affect, and life-or domain-specific satisfaction such as sport. Well-being, hedonic and eudaimonic, within sport and exercise psychology is becoming a popular research topic [14]. Hence, this systematic review aimed to quantify the task and ego motivational climates and measures consistent with the three components of subjective or hedonic well-being relationships.…”