Exploring the relationship between social support, resilience, and subjective well-being in athletes of adapted sport

Tânia Mira; Miguel Jacinto; Aldo M Costa; Diogo Monteiro; Susana Diz; Rui Matos; Raúl Antunes

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1266654

Exploring the relationship between social support, resilience, and subjective well-being in athletes of adapted sport

Front Psychol. 2023 Dec 7:14:1266654. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1266654. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Tânia Mira^{1

2

3}, Miguel Jacinto^{3

4

5}, Aldo M Costa^{1

6}, Diogo Monteiro^{3

4

6}, Susana Diz¹, Rui Matos^{3

4}, Raúl Antunes^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sport Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal.
² ISCE-Higher Institute of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, Ramada, Portugal.
³ ESECS-Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria, Portugal.
⁴ Life Quality Research Centre (CIEQV), Rio Maior, Portugal.
⁵ Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
⁶ Research Centre in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), Vila Real, Portugal.

Abstract

Introduction: Sports participation of people with disabilities provide an improvement in their skills, especially on access to social support, which could improve resilience and well-being. This study aims to analyze the association between types of social support (parents, coach, friend, and best friend), resilience and positive and negative affect, in 105 Portuguese athletes with disabilities aged between 13 and 61 years (32 ± 12.35 years).

Methods: Participants answered a short sociodemographic questionnaire, the Portuguese version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Brief Resilience Scale, and a scale for assessing social support from parents, coach, friend, and best friend.

Results: Social support provided by the best friend, coach, friends, and parents had a direct effect on resilience and positive and negative affect. Results showed a positive and significant association between resilience and positive affect (r = 0.28; p = 0.004) and a negative association between resilience and negative affect (r = -0.37; p ≤ 0.001). A strong relationship was found between resilience and affect, with no relationship being verified between the sources of social support and resilience or affect, as hypothesized.

Discussion: For this group of athletes with disability, more than the social support they may have or may feel, resilience proved to be very important for the consequence of sports practice in terms of subjective well-being.

Keywords: affect; disability; resilience; social support; subjective well-being.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., Grant/Award Number UIDB/04045/2020 and UIDB/04748/2020.