Sports participation, body appreciation and life satisfaction in Norwegian adolescents: A moderated mediation analysis

Aims: Life satisfaction is an important aspect of quality of life and plays an essential role in optimal developmental adaption in adolescence. This study investigated whether being active in organised leisure sports is associated with a higher level of life satisfaction among adolescents, both directly and indirectly, through increased body appreciation. Whether gender moderates the mentioned associations will also be examined. Methods: The study was cross-sectional and based on a sample of 541 participants (44% females) between 16 and 19 years of age (M-age=16.89 years, SD=0.46). A moderated mediation model was examined using SPSS v27 and the PROCESS macro. Results: Boys had higher life satisfaction and body appreciation levels than girls did. There was no direct effect of organised leisure sports participation on life satisfaction. However, there was a positive association between organised leisure sports participation and life satisfaction through increased body appreciation. No gender differences were observed for the direct association between sports participation and life satisfaction or the indirect associations between sports participation and life satisfaction through body appreciation. Conclusions: Our findings support that body appreciation is a mediator for the association between organised leisure sports participation and life satisfaction for both boys and girls. Longitudinal studies should be conducted to further examine if causal relationships exist.