Research Information System
8.International Mountain and Outdoor Sports Conference, Prag, Czech Republic, 23 - 26 November 2016, pp.15, (Summary Text)
Aim
The gradual increase in outdoor sports and their turning into major recreational activities resulted in studies with findings stating that participating in outdoor sports positively affect the moods of individuals who are involved in these activities. However, the number of studies analysing the effect of outdoor activities on the emotions of individuals is limited. The purpose of this study is to examine the changes in overall affect, positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) according to the activities participated in. Moreover, the study aims describing daily satisfaction levels of the participants of outdoor sports activities.
Methods
This study was conducted in the south of Turkey, Antalya, Köprülü Canyon National Park and followed a daily diary studies in non-experimental methods. Affect levels of 104 voluntary participants (female=33, male= 25, missing=46; age range=18-26), who were not actively involved in recreational sports activities, were measured. The participants were arranged in three different groups and experienced three different outdoor sports activities (rafting, canyoning and rappeling) for three consecutive days. PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) was applied to the participants after each activity for three days to determine their affect levels. The data obtained was analysed through PAWS 18 software.
Results
Average positive and negative affect values of participants involved in outdoor sports activities were compared for each of the three days by Paired Sample T-test analysis. Besides, average satisfaction levels of participants were evaluated.
= 2.74) and 2nd days (= 2.97) (p<,001); and there was a significant decrease between the 2nd (= 2.97) and 3rd (= 2.72) days (p<,001). The changes in PA’s of participants were significant with an increase between the 1st (=4.12) and 2nd (=4.28) days (p<,001) and a decrease between 2nd (= 4.28) and 3rd (= 4.09) days (p<,001). There was not a significant change between the days regarding NA.1st day= 4.63, 2nd day= 4.75, 3rd day= 4.60. Evaluation of the average satisfaction levels from the activities (rappeling, rafting and canyoning) revealed that the activity where the participants had the least satisfaction in each of the three days was canyoning (1st day = 4.48, 2nd day= 4.65, 3rd day = 4.32).Conclusion
The results reveal that participating in outdoor sports activities positively influence the overall and positive affect levels of participants. However, there was not a significant change in their negative affect levels. This result supports our expectation which indicates that outdoor sports activities influence the positive affect levels of participants. When the general satisfaction levels of participants, who joined in the three activities in the said-region (Köprülü Canyon National Park), were evaluated, it was found that canyoning caused least satisfaction. It is considered that requirement of more endurance and effort of this activity than other activities could have influenced the satisfaction levels. Further in-depth analysis is required to determine which outdoor sport activity affects the PA levels of participants most or how the emotional moods of participants change depending on the frequency of activities participated in.