Quality of Life among Retired Women Sports Person

INTRODUCTION

Practicing sports is often seen by the players as an appointment of life. Striving for victory, success and excellence is associated with the development of talent, self-realization, which can provide the player with a sense of accomplishment. The discovery of one‟s passion for life, a total commitment in the work providing satisfaction a sense of competence allows to experience well- being, including the so called flow state experience dlow which- if experienced on regular basis is a determinant of happiness (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999).Over the past 15 years, there has been a dramatic increase in research on quality of life that has rapidly become central to the literature on older adults. this should come as no surprise, because many older adults who become afflicted with chronic disease prefer quality of life to longevity. Quality of life - In mainstream psychology, quality of life is defined as a conscious cognitive judgment of satisfaction with life.

Studies by Blinde and statta (1992), Warriner and Lavelle (2008) have shown that retirement from sports could lead to disruption and trauma and affect the well-being of athletes. Unanticipated exit from sports affects readjustment to life. However, contrasting results were yielded by Lerch (1982) and Allison and Meyer ( 1988), they found athletes were satisfied with life after retirement from sports. A number of athletes looked forward to life after sports to pursue new interests. Wilson and Pritchard (2005) study showed that athletes and non-athletes varied in the type of stress they experienced. The athlete population experienced more stress in handling relationship conflicts, not getting enough time to sleep and having too many external demands. Santos (2013) assessed quality of life index on professional, semi-professional and amateur level Brazillian athletes. the findings suggests that

Problem: To find the quality of life between Retired women sports person and active women sports person. Aim: The aim of the study is to find the difference between retired women sports person and Active women sports person.

Compare the retired women sports person and Active women sports person on older people quality of life. Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between retired women sports person and active women sports person on older people quality of life. Research design: The present study is exploratory in nature.

Dependent variable: Quality of life. Sample: A total of 60 women Sports persons( 30 retired women sports person and 30 Active women sports person) ageing from 60 years and above Sample were selected during 32nd national master athletics championship, Kantirava stadium Bengaluru and National masters athletics Mangala stadium Mangaluru were considered for the research. The samples were selected using simple random sampling technique. Materials: An information schedule along with the older people quality of life questionnaire developed by Ann Bowling & Gabriel (2007), the test consists of 35 items were used.

The participants were personally contacted to get the consensus. The purpose of the research was informed and rapport was established. Demographic detailed were collected using information schedule prepared by the researcher. The older people quality of life questionnaire were administered (developed by Ann Bowling & Gabriel 2007), according to the instructions given in the manual. All the clarifications were resolved before giving their responses. After the completion of responses, the questionnaires were collected and analyzed using suitable statistical method. was computed for the data using SPSS 20.0

OPQOL= Older people quality of life RWSP= Retired women sports person AWSP= Active women sports person Table 1 shows that the Older people quality of life score of Retired women sports person, the mean is 135.05 with SD being 13.03 and Active women sports person mean is 132.98 with SD being 10.87 with t- score of 0.943 indicating the no much significant difference between Retired women sports person and active women sports person in Older people quality of life. Hence the hypothesis is accepted. Higher the score, greater the quality of life, here there is no significant difference between retired women sports person and active sports person. Pinto and Prakash (1991) reports that factors associated with high life satisfaction score were high social status and educational attainment, good social support, religion, participation in social activities, functional independence, good health, and daily exercise. Lack of family support, dissatisfaction with children and ill health also contributing to quality of life of the elderly. Probably these factors may influenced in their quality of life.

OPQOL=Older people quality of life RWSP= Retired women sports person women sports person have better quality of life when compared with active women sports person. but statistically there is there is no significant difference between these two groups. Moreover retired women sports person and active women sports person have more or less equal quality of life.

SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS:

There is no significant difference between retired women sports person and active women sports person on older people quality of life. hence researcher accepted the hypothsis.

The results indicated that there is no significant difference between Retired women sports person and Active women sports person on older people quality of life. The obtained results shows that hypothesis of the study accepted.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). If we are so rich, why aren‟t we happy? American Psychologist, 54: pp. 821–827 Pavot W. & Diener E. (1993). Review of the satisfaction with life scale psycho Assess 5:164-172.google scholar. Pinto and Prakash (1991). Life satisfaction of life aged: Elderly care at home and institutions, In prakash, Indira J (ed) Quality aging, association of gerontology, Varanasi, India. Priyanka.P and Chaitanya Sridhar (2007). A study on quality of life of retired athletes, Jain University, Bangalore, International Journal of Recent Scientific Research, Vol. 5, Issue, 7, pp. 1231-1235. Santos, A.L.P. (2013). Quality of life in professional, semiprofessional, and amateur athletes An exploratory analysis in Brazil. Sage Journals. 3 (3). DOI: 10.1177/2158244013497723.

Wilson, G.S. & Pritchard, M. (2005). Comparing Sources of Stress in College Student Athletes and Non-Athletes. Athletic Insight, 7(1), pp. 1-8.

Research Scholar, Department of Psychology Bangalore University‟s Campus, Bangalore, Karnataka State, India meenakshi.psychology@gmail.com