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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living

Sec. Sport, Leisure, Tourism, and Events

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1646511

This article is part of the Research TopicPsychological dimensions of sport and active living: Impacts on health and performanceView all articles

The Role of Social Support in Overcoming Leisure Constraints in Recreational Sport Participation

Provisionally accepted
Apostolia NtovoliApostolia Ntovoli1Georgia StavropoulouGeorgia Stavropoulou2Thomas KaragiorgosThomas Karagiorgos2Yiannis LianopoulosYiannis Lianopoulos2Garifallos AnagnostouGarifallos Anagnostou1Elena PapacostaElena Papacosta1Kostas AlexandrisKostas Alexandris2*
  • 1Department of Life and Health Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Frederick University, 3306 Limassol, Cyprus
  • 2School of Physical Education & Sport Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

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Introduction: Following the hierarchical model of leisure constraints and the negotiation proposition, this study aimed to investigate whether individuals with different levels of leisure constraints exhibit varying scores in their perceived social support. By testing the relationship between constraints and social support, the study contributes to the literature by adding one more factor that determines the successful negotiation of leisure constraints.The data were collected by an online survey with a convenient sample of the adult Greek population. The leisure constraint and the social support questionnaires were used to collect the data.The cluster analysis revealed three groups with different leisure constraint scores. The group with the lowest constraint scores had the highest social support scores, while the group with the highest interpersonal scores had the lowest social support scores.Discussion: These results further extend the hierarchical model of leisure constraints, showing that social support is one of the factors that should be included within the negotiation proposition. They interact with leisure constraints and determine their successful negotiation.

Keywords: social support1, Leisure Constraints2, barriers3, Recreational Sport Participation4, Leisure Negotiation5

Received: 13 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Ntovoli, Stavropoulou, Karagiorgos, Lianopoulos, Anagnostou, Papacosta and Alexandris. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Kostas Alexandris, School of Physical Education & Sport Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

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