A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON SPORTING BEHAVIOR, MINDFULNESS AND WELL-BEING

Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected individual well-being negatively; to mitigate the impact, psychological resources are required.

Material and methods
Both the WHO WBI-5: 5-item World Health Organization Well Being Index and MAAS: Brown and Ryan (2003) Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale were utilized in this study on 827 university students (age 25.29±8.09). Statistical Package IBM SPSS v 24; significance level at p≤0.05.

Results
We found significant positive correlation between dispositional mindfulness and well-being (R=0.347; p=0.001). Significant differences in mindfulness and well-being were noted between the regularly physically active and non-active groups (Z=-2.850; p=0.004; and Z=-2.152; p=0.031, respectively). The population was subdivided into 3 groups (1) professional athlete; (2) recreational athlete; (3) inactive; we found significant differences in mindfulness (Chi-square value=14.406; p=0.001) and well-being (Chi-square value=19.341; p<0.001) across the group. In paired analysis we found significant differences in mindfulness between groups 1-2 (Z=-2.885; p<0.001), 1-3 (Z=-3.537; p<0.001) and 2-3 (Z=-2.130; p=0.033). Significant differences in well-being were observed between groups 1-3 (Z=-2.273; p=0.023) and 2-3 (Z=-4.235; p<0.001). We found significant differences regarding the duration (Chi-square value=342.856; p<0.001) and number of trainings before and during quarantine (Chi-square value=214.552; p<0.001).

Conclusions
Intensive and regular physical activity facilitates the psychological factors which support individual well-being. Exercising regularly and/or competitively appears to offer a protective effect on mental health.