An examination of the effects of individuals who are and are not engaged in recreactive tennis sports on their quality of life and happiness levels

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of recreational tennis on individuals' quality of life and happiness in Diyarbakır province and the relationship between variables such as age, gender, marital status, educational status, occupational group, income status, tennis playing status, and reasons for playing tennis. The study sample consisted of tennis players (n=325) and non-tennis players (n=308) in Diyarbakır province. The "Short Form of the Oxford Happiness Scale," developed by Hills and Argyle and adapted into Turkish by Dogan and Cotok, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale were applied to determine the happiness levels of the participants. The Jamovi 2.4.5 statistical package program was used to analyze the data obtained at the end of the study. First, descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage) were calculated for all variables. After determining that the data met the parametric test assumptions, various comparative analyses were conducted according to the purpose of the study. A two-way analysis of variance (Two-Way ANOVA) was applied to determine the effects of interactions between gender, age group, marital status, education level, income level, occupational group, and tennis playing status on the relevant scale scores. Interaction effects were evaluated in these analyses. The significance level for the interaction effects was set at p < 0.05. Statistically significant differences were observed between the variables of age and years of playing tennis. Mathematical differences were found between the variables of gender, marital status, education level, occupational group, income level, number of days of playing tennis, and tennis playing. Consequently, a significant interaction effect was found between age group and duration of tennis playing on the Oxford Happiness Scale. In the physical subscale of the Quality of Life Scale, the mean psychological domain score of individuals who felt unhappy when not playing tennis was statistically significantly different from the mean score of individuals who did not feel unhappy (p>0.05). It was concluded that playing tennis affects happiness differently depending on age, that playing tennis provides more significant psychological benefits in older individuals, that playing tennis supports physical well-being more strongly in young and middle-aged individuals, that playing tennis for long periods of time contributes significantly to happiness, that improvement in body image is associated with regular and continuous tennis activity, and that individuals who tend to be affected mentally when unable to play tennis generally have higher levels of psychological well-being.