Riding with the flow: study on intrinsic motivation, dispositional flow, and sensation seeking among Italian motorcycle racers

Paolo Mancin^1*Maria Stefania Ionel²Silvia Cerea^1,3Eleonora Francesca Maria Riva⁴Martina Rapisarda¹Marta Ghisi^1,5

• ¹Department of General Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
• ²Research in Individual Differences and Legal Psychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
• ³Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Veneto, Italy
• ⁴Department of Cultural and Environmental Heritage, Faculty of Humanities, University of Milan, Milan, Lombardy, Italy
• ⁵Unitá Operativa Complessa (UOC) Hospital Psychology, Padua University Hospital, Padua, Italy

Background: There is a limited body of research investigating psychological dimensions involved in motorcycle racing. Exploring intrinsic motivation becomes crucial since it is associated with high performance and sport persistence. Dispositional flow and sensation seeking, psychological traits involved in motorcycle practice, may exert a significant influence on intrinsic motivation. The current study aimed 1) to assess whether higher levels of intrinsic motivation characterize motorcycle racers participating in higher levels of competition, while no clear hypotheses were made for dispositional flow and sensation seeking, and 2) to assess how dispositional flow and sensation seeking would relate with intrinsic motivation in a sample of Italian motorcycle racers. Method: Data was collected from 75 motorcycle racers, self-identified as men (age 39.44 ± 13.07 years), registered in the Italian Federation of Motorcycling: 43 competed at National/International level and 32 at Regional level as their highest level. Results: Motorcycle racers competing at Regional level and National/International level did not differ in psychological dimensions. Moreover, dispositional flow was positively associated with all dimensions of intrinsic motivation, while sensation seeking was associated only with intrinsic motivation to stimulate. Finally, intrinsic motivation to stimulate was associated with both psychological dimensions within a hierarchical regression model. Conclusion: These findings highlighted that motorcycle racing could be intrinsically rewarding and could enable riders to experience flow and to reach intense emotions regardless of the level of the competition. Furthermore, dispositional flow emerged as significantly associated with intrinsic motivation to sport practice in motorcycle racers, while sensation seeking played a marginal role.