Sports tourism as a pathway to older adults’ psychological well-being: a dual-pathway model integrating broaden-and-build and social identity perspectives

Abstract

This study explores how sports tourism is associated with older adults’ eudaimonic well-being through dual psychological mechanisms. Drawing on Broaden-and-Build Theory and Social Identity Theory, the research examines an emotion pathway in which positive emotions and sense of physical challenge achievement are linked to psychological resources, and an identity pathway in which sports group identification is linked to positive age identity. Survey data from 467 older Chinese sports tourism participants were analyzed using PLS-SEM and artificial neural network analysis. PLS-SEM results provide support for both pathways, while neural network sensitivity analysis further reveals that sense of physical challenge achievement is the most important predictor of psychological resource accumulation, and psychological resources showed greater importance in predicting well-being than positive age identity. Peer social support showed significant moderating effects on the achievement-to-resources and identification-to-age-identity relationships.