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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1540907
This article is part of the Research Topic Advances in Sports Science: Latest Findings and New Scientific Proposals- Volume III View all 3 articles

Exploring the Relationship between Social Capital and Hedonic Wellbeing in Sport and Physical Activity Contexts: A Scoping Review

Provisionally accepted
Yi Zhang Yi Zhang 1Keita Kinoshita Keita Kinoshita 2Shintaro Sato Shintaro Sato 3*
  • 1 Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Saitama, Japan
  • 2 National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
  • 3 Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This scoping review aimed to summarize the conceptualization and measurements of both social capital and hedonic well-being and to explore the links between social capital and hedonic well-being within sports and physical activity contexts. Articles were sourced from five databases, including PubMed, Scopus (Elsevier), SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Initially, 475 papers were identified. After applying the screening process, 24 papers were included. The majority (70.8%) indicated a positive relationship between social capital and hedonic well-being, while others found no direct connection (16.7%) or presented mixed results (12.5%). The review underscored a consensus on defining and measuring hedonic well-being, but it also revealed the need for a more refined conceptualization and universally accepted measurement of social capital within sports research. The findings highlighted the positive associations between social capital and hedonic wellbeing in sport and physical activity contexts, suggesting future research directions including an examination of potential downsides.

    Keywords: Social capital1, hedonic well-being2, subjective well-being3, sport4, physical activity5

    Received: 06 Dec 2024; Accepted: 28 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Kinoshita and Sato. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shintaro Sato, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, 359-1192, Saitama, Japan

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