AUTHOR=Puce Luca , Biz Carlo , Cerchiaro Mariachiara , Scapinello Davide , Giarrizzo Luca , Trompetto Carlo , Marinelli Lucio , Trabelsi Khaled , Samanipour Mohammad Hossein , Bragazzi Nicola Luigi , Ruggieri Pietro TITLE=Young para-athletes display more hedonic well-being than people with disabilities not taking part in competitive sports: insights from a multi-country survey JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=14 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1176595 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1176595 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=

Hedonic well-being relates to how individuals experience and rate their lives. People with disabilities due to their pathology may more frequently suffer from anxiety and depressive disorders than their able-bodied counterparts. Sports participation is an essential way to cope with disability. On the other hand, compared with their able-bodied peers, para-athletes undergo a unique series of stressors. Little is known in terms of hedonic well-being in this specific population. We present the results of a multi-country survey of self-perceived hedonic well-being by para-athletes of different sports disciplines and a control group (disabled individuals not playing competitive sports), using the “Psychological General Well-Being Index” (PGWBI). We included 1,208 participants, aged 17.39 years, 58.4% male, 41.6% female, and 70.3% para-athletes. Para-athletes exhibited higher well-being than disabled people, for all domains of the PGWBI scale. The nature of disability/impairment was significant, with those with acquired disability reporting lower well-being. Those taking part in wheelchair basketball, para-athletics, and para-swimming competitions had a higher likelihood of reporting well-being, whereas those engaged in wheelchair rugby exhibited lower well-being compared with controls. This large-scale investigation can enable a better understanding of the self-perceived hedonic well-being of disabled people.