Psychological Impact of Wheelchair Rugby and

Cross-Cultural Differences between American and Japanese Players.

Shinichi Nagata Indiana University

Terry LongNorthwest Missouri

State University

&

Murderball (2005)

Photo: USA Today

Wheelchair Rugby

• Modification of Rugby (or football)

• Who can play– Disability that affects both arms and legs

• History– Developed in Canada in 1977– Official Paralympic sports from 2000– Currently played in more than 40 countries

Wheelchair Rugby

• Using a basketball court• Using a ball similar to Volleyball• Using specialized wheelchairs• Classification: Players assigned 0.5 ~ 3.5 points• No more than 8.0 points in the court

• Visual aid– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzQ0bx7dUfU

Why Wheelchair Rugby?

• In major adapted sports, individuals with severe disabilities are under-represented– Wheelchair Basketball– Wheelchair Racing

• Majority is actually Quads!

Problems documented

• Psychological distress (anxiety and depression) in Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) population

Rational

• Life satisfaction is a key factor

• Leisure satisfaction was a major predictor of life satisfaction,

• Favorite sports higher life satisfaction

Variables

• Life Satisfaction• Self-Esteem• Athletic Identity

Theory in Cross-Cultural Difference

• Individualism and Collectivism

– May have influenced on athletic identity (Perception as an individual)

Research Questions• RQ1: How does Wheelchair Rugby involvement impact life

satisfaction, self-esteem, and athletic identity?

• RQ2: Do American and Japanese Wheelchair Rugby players differ in regard to the impact that participation has on life satisfaction, self-esteem, and athletic identity?

• RQ3: To what extent is life satisfaction of Wheelchair Rugby players explained by self-esteem and athletic identity?

Methods: Population & Samples

• Population: All American Wheelchair Rugby players (Nus = 500) and all Japanese Wheelchair Rugby players (Njp = 80)

• Sample: nus = 58 njp = 26

Methods: Format

• Electronic form survey with established instruments– Satisfaction with Life Scale– Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

– Athletic Identity Measurement Scale

• Health satisfaction and financial satisfaction questions

Retrospective pretest method (Pratt, McGuigan, and Katzev, 2000) was used.

Methods: Data Analysis

• ANOVA– Impact of Wheelchair Rugby (RQ1)– Cross-cultural difference (RQ2)

• Stepwise Regression Analyses– Predicting life satisfaction with other variables

(RQ3)

ANOVA Results• Descriptive statistics

Table 1. Means and SD  U.S. Japanese  (mean ± SD) (mean ± SD)Life Satisfaction

pretest 19.13 ± 8.96 15.32 ± 5.93posttest 26.86 ± 6.02 19.14 ± 7.78

Self-Esteempretest 19.25 ± 8.98 13.41 ± 5.58posttest 25.36 ± 4.90 15.77 ± 4.60

Athletic Identitypretest 33.68 ± 15.44 33.36 ± 14.18posttest 44.16 ± 10.34 45.05 ± 10.11

ANOVA Results

• WR main effect & interaction

Table 2. The results of multivariate tests: main effect of wheelchair rugby involvement and its interaction with country

Source Wilk's λ F p Partial η2

Main effect        Life Satisfaction .66 38.16 .000 .334Self-Esteem .79 20.61 .000 .213Athletic Identity .74 26.10 .000 .256

InteractionLife Satisfaction .95 4.38 .040 .055Self-Esteem .95 4.03 .048 .050Athletic Identity .99 .08 .783 .001

ANOVA Results

• Country main effect

Table 3. The results of Between-subjects effects

SourceSums of Squares df

Mean Square F p

Main effect of country

Life Satisfaction 1049.46 1 1049.46 12.62 .001

Self-Esteem 1879.12 1 1879.12 29.96 .000

Athletic Identity 2.56 1 2.56 .01 .907

Discussion

• The results gave a quantitative support to the qualitative evidences

Discussion

• Interaction effect Americans improved more scores than Japanese in life satisfaction and self-esteem

Discussion

• Life satisfaction & self-esteem– Low norm score in Japanese

– Behavioral norm difference? • Americans value acting confident, but Japanese value

being modest

Discussion

• n.s. in athletic identity – Competitiveness of American and Japanese

college students were the same level

Regression Results

Variables Β SE(B) β R2

        .827

Health Satisfaction 2.00 .22 .52**  

Self-Esteem .39 .07 .35**  

Financial Satisfaction 1.04 .23 .24**  

Note. **p < .01

• Life satisfaction predictors

Results

Variable Β SE(B) β R2

      .582

Country -6.33 1.13 -.454**  

Health Satisfaction 1.22 .33 .355**  

Athletic Identity -.13 .05 -.202*  

Financial Satisfaction .73 .32 .185*  

Note. *p <.05. **p < .01.

• If self-esteem impact life satisfaction, what impact self-esteem?

Discussion

• Even if health and finance is compromised, life satisfaction is improved by self-esteem

• Athletic identity plays an important role to predict self-esteem

Limitations

• Electronic survey– No supervision honest scores?– Reflect overall target population?

• Small sample size for inferential statistics

Future research recommendation

– Difference in effect of Wheelchair Rugby by classifications? • High pointers vs. Low pointers

– Cultural differences in athletic identity

– Overall model about life satisfaction

Practical Implications

– Coach, when somebody wants to quit, stop it

– International coach should mind the cultural norm in visiting country

– Recreation therapists should know that life satisfaction intervention may success without health and financial issue

Sports in Inclusion

• Why important?

– Physical & psychological health drive individuals to go out to explore other venues• Occupations• Academics, etc…

Questions??

Thank you!