The Effect of Recreational Flow Experience on Mental Well-Being in Fitness Participants

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the effect of recreational flow experience on mental well-being in fitness participants. The "Recreational Flow Experience Scale" developed by Ayhan et al., (2020) and the "Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale" developed by Tennant et al., (2007) and adapted into Turkish by Keldal (2015) were used as data collection tools in the study. The research group consists of a total of 501 volunteer individuals, 344 males (68.7%) and 157 females (31.3%), selected by convenience sampling method among individuals attending the fitness center. The normality test of the obtained data was tested by checking the skewness-kurtosis values and it was determined that the data showed a normal distribution. In this context, in addition to descriptive statistics, pearson correlation and regression analyses were used in the analysis of the data. According to research findings, it has been determined that there is a positive relationship between recreational flow experience and mental well-being. Additionally, it has been observed that recreational flow experience has a positive effect on mental well-being, and recreational flow experience predicts mental well-being by approximately 17%. Accordingly, it was concluded that the flow experience experienced during recreational activities is an important factor in the mental well-being of the participants.