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Impacts of Outdoor Activities, Demographic Variables and Emotional Intelligence on Life Satisfaction: An Econometric Application of a Case in Turkey

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine and explain the impacts and directions of some outdoor activities as cycling, trekking and mountaineering/rock climbing and the other determinants as emotional intelligence (EQ), age, gender, marital status, education, monthly income, and occupation on life satisfaction (LS) level by linear regression model in Turkey. The Sampling group of this study consists of 1,719 persons who are mountaineers/rock climbers (n = 426, \( \overline{\text{X}} \) age = 36.12 ± 10.10), cyclists (n = 373, \( \overline{\text{X}} \) age = 31.36 ± 9.73), trekkers (n = 382, \( \overline{\text{X}} \) age = 39.92 SD = 10.30) and non participants in outdoor activities (n = 538, \( \overline{\text{X}} \) age = 31.78 ± 11.47). The exact number of mountaineers/rock climbers, cyclists and trekkers in Turkey is not known. In this study, sampling has been applied and an electronic questionnaire form has been sent to all members of mountaineering and cycling clubs under Turkish Mountaineering Federation and Turkish Cycling Federation. All the received survey answers have been assessed. Non participants of outdoor activities were selected randomly. To determine the EQ and LS level of Turkish mountaineers/rock climbers, cyclists, trekkers and the persons who are not interested in any of the outdoor activities, the Satisfaction with Life Scale which was developed by Diener et al. (J Person Assess 49:71–75, 1985) and during the assessment of EQ dimensions the scale by Chan (Pers Individ Differ 36: 1781–1795, 2004; Teach Teach Educ 22:1042–1054, 2006) was utilized. This study is a descriptive and a definitive research which uses Regression Model for LS and in order to analyze the data, the descriptive statistics such as frequency (f), percentage (%), average (M) and standard deviation (SD) were performed. As a result of this study, it was found that being a participant in outdoor activities as cycling, trekking and mountaineering/rock climbing, having a high monthly income, and being a woman, being coupled and/or married, being occupied, capability on emotion assessment and positive emotional management have positive impacts on LS and being a man, being single, being older, and emotions positively have negative impacts on LS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Recreation Department, School of Physical Education and Sport, Akdeniz University, 07058, Antalya, Turkey

    Faik Ardahan

  2. Department of Econometrics, University of Akdeniz, 07058, Antalya, Turkey

    Mehmet Mert

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  1. Faik Ardahan
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Correspondence to Faik Ardahan.

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Ardahan, F., Mert, M. Impacts of Outdoor Activities, Demographic Variables and Emotional Intelligence on Life Satisfaction: An Econometric Application of a Case in Turkey. Soc Indic Res 113, 887–901 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0118-5

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