Sport Engagement and Social Capital in Sport Settings: The Predictive Roles of Cultural and Educational Commitment among Athletes in Mazandaran Province, Iran
Keywords:
sport engagement, cultural commitment, educational commitment, social capital, interpersonal trust, social participation, athletesAbstract
The present study aimed to examine the role of the dimensions of the sport engagement model in explaining the components of social capital, namely interpersonal trust and social participation, among athletes in Mazandaran Province, Iran. This study employed a descriptive-correlational design with a quantitative approach. The statistical population consisted of active athletes across the cities of Mazandaran Province. A total of 359 participants were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected using the Sport Engagement Model Questionnaire, comprising cultural commitment and educational commitment, as well as the Social Capital Questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and simultaneous multiple regression analysis. The results showed that both dimensions of sport engagement were positively and significantly associated with interpersonal trust and social participation (p < 0.001). Cultural commitment showed a strong positive correlation with interpersonal trust (r = 0.805), while educational commitment was also significantly related to interpersonal trust (r = 0.408). In addition, cultural commitment (r = 0.482) and educational commitment (r = 0.237) were positively and significantly related to social participation (p < 0.001). Multiple regression analysis indicated that the dimensions of sport engagement jointly explained 65.1% of the variance in interpersonal trust and 23.4% of the variance in social participation. Cultural commitment was the strongest predictor of interpersonal trust, whereas both cultural and educational commitment made significant contributions to the prediction of social participation. Overall, the findings suggest that greater sport engagement, particularly through strengthening cultural and educational commitment, may contribute to the enhancement of social capital in sport settings.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Moradali Moradali Yazdan Nejad, Ali Rahmani Firoozjah (Author); Ali Asghar Abbasi Asfajir (Corresponding Author); Majedeh Gholipour (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
