*1.3.2 The dimension: global satisfaction with life*

Global satisfaction with life has its part in subjective well-being and subjective quality of life of people. Measurement of the life satisfaction among adolescents is needed. The comparison with adults can bring some new information to social research.

#### *1.3.2.1 Satisfaction with life and subjective well-being*

What is subjective well-being? For one it is only the feeling of positive evaluation of life. For another there are many areas, which influence the life. Areas, which most influence well-being, are in accordance of [66] as follows: physical well-being, economic well-being, social well-being, personal development and development of activities, emotional well-being, psychological well-being, satisfaction with life, specific areas in life and satisfaction within, participation in activities, and participation at work. How man perceives own well-being or lack of well-being accordingly to this he/she evaluates his/her quality of life.

The findings of [48] supported the statement that physical activity can have long-term effects on well-being. Satisfaction with life represents the cognitive dimension of subjective well-being and captures a global sense of well-being from the perspective of the respondent [3, 5]. Subjective well-being is popularly often called happiness. Happiness or subjective well-being is often measured as a part of life satisfaction. In evaluating happiness, it is important to remember that the appreciation and assessment depend on the time of evaluation. If it is evaluated immediately after the experienced situation or after a longer time only as a recall from the memory, there can be some differences in evaluations. The subjective well-being is composed of several separable although somewhat related variables [5]. Measuring national well-being and quality of life [67] in the United Kingdom provides results that younger people (mainly aged 16–24 years) were more likely to report higher ratings of satisfaction with their health and higher ratings of physical activity engagement. Especially the young people in the age range 16–19 years (adolescents) reported a higher level of life satisfaction (9–10 out of 10) than those aged 20–24.

In accordance to [68], well-being is divided into two aspects; these are life satisfaction and personal development. In the year 2015, [69] presented the comparison about the overall quality of life around the world and found out that Northern European nations are at the top of many well-being indicators and many African nations are near the bottom. Life satisfaction is the result of a judgmental process of an individual who assesses the quality of his/her life according to his/her own criteria. In the ideas of [7], the overall satisfaction with life is an indicator of quality of life, because one indicates how satisfied one is with one's life. Subjective well-being comprises people's longer-term levels of pleasant affect, lack of unpleasant affect, and life satisfaction [4]. The report of [70] noticed that satisfaction is an area of psychic phenomena that is classified into the subjective experience sphere of a man. An individual is satisfied when he/she can achieve predetermined goals. The relation between life domain satisfaction and overall life satisfaction, values, and internal/external perceived control has been explored by [71] at the sample of

Spanish adolescents. Individuals having internal perceived control are more likely to report they are satisfied with their overall life.

A large sample of individuals in 21 nations was studied with authors [72] who found that high life satisfaction was associated with not smoking, physical exercise, a healthier diet, and using sun protection, fruit intake, and fat avoidance. The revision of several types of reviewed evidence indicates that higher subjective well-being (such as life satisfaction, absence of negative emotions, optimism, and positive emotions) [73] causes better health and longevity. The study of [74] revealed that participants who were more physically active, than those who were less active, experienced higher levels of mental well-being and were generally more satisfied with their lives. Their findings indicated that participants with a healthy body mass index enjoyed higher levels of life satisfaction than those classified as overweight or obese and showed no significant differences between the gender and age groups. They presented that physical activity strengthens the association with life satisfaction and mental well-being [ibid].

The satisfaction with life is evaluated higher also in physically active disabled people [75, 76] than physically inactive disabled people.

Sport participation may be associated with improved life satisfaction and self-rated health for male and female students from the middle school [41], and the females may view exercise and physical activity as more important contributors to health and wellbeing as compared to males in the same age of 7 and 8 grades of middle school. Sport, exercise, and physical activity can improve mental health and psychosocial competences and improve mood, happiness, social relations, and other aspects of well-being.

"Global satisfaction with life can be considered to be an indicator of quality of life, because one indicates how satisfied one is with one's life as a whole" [7]. When one manages to realize his/her own plans [36], a person is satisfied. This means that the level of satisfaction is closely related to the personal understanding of quality of life. Global satisfaction with life measures how people evaluate their life as a whole rather than their current feelings. Life satisfaction is in the article of [77] characterized as the cognitive component of subjective well-being, and the author stated that it plays an important role in a healthy successful youth development as an indicator, a predictor, a mediator/moderator, and an outcome. Whereas high life satisfaction is related to good adaptation and optimal mental health, low life satisfaction is associated with psychological, social, and behavioral problems among youth [ibid].

#### **1.4 Sport as a physical activity in the school system**

Sport as a physical activity has its place in the life of school pupils, pupils in the child and adolescent age. Adolescence is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood. The body changes are rapid and surprising. To adapt to these changes, the body needs movement. Along with the rapid changes that occur in body proportions, especially the increase in body height and body weight, the physical performance and fitness capability are the issues that increase too.

Sport as an exercising activity is provided by the school in a compulsory subject physical education in kindergarten and from the primary school as a subject physical and sport education, in which its most important mission is to create a relationship to regular physical activity as an essential foundation of a healthy lifestyle. In the year 2008 when the curricular transformation was made, the subject physical education was given the new name, physical and sport education, because sport as a social phenomenon should be a part of educational systems. Theoretical knowledge and practical experience from an amount of traditional and nontraditional sporting activities should be presented and learned in school; then the members of our society should know about them and can use and transfer them to leisure time activities while strengthening the health, compensating the workload, and enjoying the life

**121**

*Sport for the Subjective Dimensions of Quality of Life DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88209*

championship or school's world championship.

everyday activities of schooling the kindergarten children.

at least one year must be completed at the selected secondary school.

compensatory function in the educational process at school.

with the social required and accepted activities. There are more than 55 traditional and nontraditional sporting activities written in curriculum for secondary school that can be selected by the qualified teachers and learned from them during the schooling. The pupils are involved in a year-round sporting competition between classes in the same year of study and classes between different years of study and between local schools in the town, and they can go forward to the school's European

Physical education is a compulsory subject within the educational area "health and movement" from the beginning in the kindergarten International Standard Classification of Education 0 (ISCED 0). The goal of the health and movement educational area is to provide basic health-related information and through appropriate physical exercises lead the child to acquire and improve motor skills and develop motor abilities. The educational area is focused on movement as a means of strengthening health and promoting proper psychosomatic and psychomotor development of preschool children. The child should be motivated to exercise and use it in everyday life without feeling tired or exhausted. An important part of this area is also basic hygiene habits and self-care activities. Physical activities are involved in

From the school year 1960/1961 until the end of the school year 1983/1984 had been the schooling at the primary school nine years. From the school year 1984/1985 until the end of school year 1996/1997 had been the schooling at the primary school eight years. Since the school year 1997/1998, primary schools once again have comprised nine grades. These schools consist of two levels, the first level (first–fourth grade) and the second level (fifth–ninth grade), which are usually differentiated according to the interests and skills of students. Students are accepted in the first grade after reaching the sixth year of age. The compulsory education lasts for 10 years. After their graduation from primary schools, students must apply to a secondary school and finish the 10 year compulsory schooling. This means that

In the primary education (ISCED 1 and ISCED 2) [78], the educational area health and movement provides pupils with the opportunity to express themselves and acquire basic movement skills that can be used in leisure time activities. The area focuses on basic information related to a healthy way of living, caring for own health, and physical activity. The focus of physical and sport education in primary education is predominantly on physical, functional, and movement enhancement, thus contributing to the strengthening of health, fitness orientation, and motor performance in two 45 min compulsory lessons weekly. Physical and sport education provides elementary theoretical and practical education in the field of movement, exercise, and sport. Physical and sport education significantly contributes to the psychological, social, and moral development of pupils, contributes to the formation of a positive relationship to physical activities, and fulfills a significant

Physical and sport education uses a wide range of physical means that contribute to the psychological, social and moral development of pupils, with the emphasis on the development of both gross and fine motor skills, and contribute to the formation of a positive relationship to physical activity too, and fulfils a significant compensation function in the process of education. Through movement—movement exercises, games, and competitions—it positively affects the pupils' motor development. Emphasis is placed on the pupils' individual dispositions, which should be considered in content planning and pupil assessment. It is important to motivate pupils to achieve individual improvements in their motor performance while respecting their own individual preconditions. With its focus, physical education has an exceptional and specific position within the education of pupils of the younger school age.

#### *Sport for the Subjective Dimensions of Quality of Life DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88209*

*Quality of Life - Biopsychosocial Perspectives*

report they are satisfied with their overall life.

people [75, 76] than physically inactive disabled people.

**1.4 Sport as a physical activity in the school system**

Spanish adolescents. Individuals having internal perceived control are more likely to

A large sample of individuals in 21 nations was studied with authors [72] who found that high life satisfaction was associated with not smoking, physical exercise, a healthier diet, and using sun protection, fruit intake, and fat avoidance. The revision of several types of reviewed evidence indicates that higher subjective well-being (such as life satisfaction, absence of negative emotions, optimism, and positive emotions) [73] causes better health and longevity. The study of [74] revealed that participants who were more physically active, than those who were less active, experienced higher levels of mental well-being and were generally more satisfied with their lives. Their findings indicated that participants with a healthy body mass index enjoyed higher levels of life satisfaction than those classified as overweight or obese and showed no significant differences between the gender and age groups. They presented that physical activity strengthens the association with life satisfaction and mental well-being [ibid].

The satisfaction with life is evaluated higher also in physically active disabled

Sport as a physical activity has its place in the life of school pupils, pupils in the child and adolescent age. Adolescence is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood. The body changes are rapid and surprising. To adapt to these changes, the body needs movement. Along with the rapid changes that occur in body proportions, especially the increase in body height and body weight, the physical performance and fitness capability are the issues that increase too.

Sport as an exercising activity is provided by the school in a compulsory subject physical education in kindergarten and from the primary school as a subject physical and sport education, in which its most important mission is to create a relationship to regular physical activity as an essential foundation of a healthy lifestyle. In the year 2008 when the curricular transformation was made, the subject physical education was given the new name, physical and sport education, because sport as a social phenomenon should be a part of educational systems. Theoretical knowledge and practical experience from an amount of traditional and nontraditional sporting activities should be presented and learned in school; then the members of our society should know about them and can use and transfer them to leisure time activities while strengthening the health, compensating the workload, and enjoying the life

Sport participation may be associated with improved life satisfaction and self-rated health for male and female students from the middle school [41], and the females may view exercise and physical activity as more important contributors to health and wellbeing as compared to males in the same age of 7 and 8 grades of middle school. Sport, exercise, and physical activity can improve mental health and psychosocial competences and improve mood, happiness, social relations, and other aspects of well-being. "Global satisfaction with life can be considered to be an indicator of quality of life, because one indicates how satisfied one is with one's life as a whole" [7]. When one manages to realize his/her own plans [36], a person is satisfied. This means that the level of satisfaction is closely related to the personal understanding of quality of life. Global satisfaction with life measures how people evaluate their life as a whole rather than their current feelings. Life satisfaction is in the article of [77] characterized as the cognitive component of subjective well-being, and the author stated that it plays an important role in a healthy successful youth development as an indicator, a predictor, a mediator/moderator, and an outcome. Whereas high life satisfaction is related to good adaptation and optimal mental health, low life satisfaction is associated with psychological, social, and behavioral problems among youth [ibid].

**120**

with the social required and accepted activities. There are more than 55 traditional and nontraditional sporting activities written in curriculum for secondary school that can be selected by the qualified teachers and learned from them during the schooling. The pupils are involved in a year-round sporting competition between classes in the same year of study and classes between different years of study and between local schools in the town, and they can go forward to the school's European championship or school's world championship.

Physical education is a compulsory subject within the educational area "health and movement" from the beginning in the kindergarten International Standard Classification of Education 0 (ISCED 0). The goal of the health and movement educational area is to provide basic health-related information and through appropriate physical exercises lead the child to acquire and improve motor skills and develop motor abilities. The educational area is focused on movement as a means of strengthening health and promoting proper psychosomatic and psychomotor development of preschool children. The child should be motivated to exercise and use it in everyday life without feeling tired or exhausted. An important part of this area is also basic hygiene habits and self-care activities. Physical activities are involved in everyday activities of schooling the kindergarten children.

From the school year 1960/1961 until the end of the school year 1983/1984 had been the schooling at the primary school nine years. From the school year 1984/1985 until the end of school year 1996/1997 had been the schooling at the primary school eight years. Since the school year 1997/1998, primary schools once again have comprised nine grades. These schools consist of two levels, the first level (first–fourth grade) and the second level (fifth–ninth grade), which are usually differentiated according to the interests and skills of students. Students are accepted in the first grade after reaching the sixth year of age. The compulsory education lasts for 10 years. After their graduation from primary schools, students must apply to a secondary school and finish the 10 year compulsory schooling. This means that at least one year must be completed at the selected secondary school.

In the primary education (ISCED 1 and ISCED 2) [78], the educational area health and movement provides pupils with the opportunity to express themselves and acquire basic movement skills that can be used in leisure time activities. The area focuses on basic information related to a healthy way of living, caring for own health, and physical activity. The focus of physical and sport education in primary education is predominantly on physical, functional, and movement enhancement, thus contributing to the strengthening of health, fitness orientation, and motor performance in two 45 min compulsory lessons weekly. Physical and sport education provides elementary theoretical and practical education in the field of movement, exercise, and sport. Physical and sport education significantly contributes to the psychological, social, and moral development of pupils, contributes to the formation of a positive relationship to physical activities, and fulfills a significant compensatory function in the educational process at school.

Physical and sport education uses a wide range of physical means that contribute to the psychological, social and moral development of pupils, with the emphasis on the development of both gross and fine motor skills, and contribute to the formation of a positive relationship to physical activity too, and fulfils a significant compensation function in the process of education. Through movement—movement exercises, games, and competitions—it positively affects the pupils' motor development. Emphasis is placed on the pupils' individual dispositions, which should be considered in content planning and pupil assessment. It is important to motivate pupils to achieve individual improvements in their motor performance while respecting their own individual preconditions. With its focus, physical education has an exceptional and specific position within the education of pupils of the younger school age.

A characteristic feature of the educational area health and movement is the knowledge and practical experience leading to the development of motor skills, improving the pupil's motor performance and acquiring the basics of sports and their use with the prospect of their application in the structure of their own movement regime.

The most important mission is to establish a relationship to regular physical activity as an essential foundation for a healthy lifestyle. The educational area combines knowledge, habits, and skills related to health, healthy lifestyle, and physical and sporting activities not only during schooling but also their use in adulthood. The basic knowledge of the importance of physical and sporting activities for health, disease prevention, proper diet, and sport activities and its evaluation and physical activity means are divided into four modules of education in school: health and its disorders, healthy lifestyle, fitness and motor performance, and sporting activities of movement regime. Pupils finishing study at primary school should have a clear concept of the importance of physical and sport education in strengthening active health; they should know the effect of exercising on the body. They should express their interest in physical activities independently, have a corresponding level of motor abilities in accordance with their motor preconditions, and have acquired physical activities from which they can create movement programs for their own needs.

The secondary education is currently offered within these educational groups: in grammar schools and secondary specialized schools. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, grammar schools were transformed into a modern type of secondary schools offering general education, which prepares students especially to study at universities and higher forms of education. Subject to the current School Act, the mission of secondary specialized schools is to prepare industrial and technical employees at a secondary educational level for the needs of the labor market and practical life and at the same time, also for their subsequent university or further education. Secondary specialized schools educate specialists for individual industries, such as the construction, transportation, agriculture, food industry, services, economics, financial sector, culture, state administration, and other areas of social life. Secondary specialized schools thus provide education at the third educational level (ISCED 3) for the schoolleaving examination but also at the fourth educational level (ISCED 4)—higher vocational education received during further studies leading to a certificate or diploma.

In the secondary education (ISCED 3) [78], the educational area health and movement creates a space of realization and awareness of the need for lifelong care of pupils for their health. The pupils recognize the quality of movement as an important part of his/her general development, and they can choose the movement in terms of occurrence of the needs (for enjoyment, for improving physical fitness, for compensation to work or school duties load). The complex subject and key competences obtained in schooling, with acquired sport skills, should ultimately become part of his/her lifestyle and attitude to life philosophy. Pupils should understand health as a subjective and objective value category; take responsibility for their health; acquire knowledge and skills related to care for their body, active movement regime, movement literacy, personal sport performance, and healthy lifestyle; and learn that prevention is a major tool for health protection.

Physical and sport education is a compulsory subject in both primary and secondary schools. There are two physical and sport education lessons each week. Swimming courses, skiing, snowboard courses, and courses for protecting the life and health are also the basic parts of physical and sport education. One aspect of the school physical education and sport delivery system in Slovakia, which has been in the past years envied by some other countries, is the comprehensive program of extracurricular activity, traditionally serviced by physical and sport education teacher on a voluntary basis. In addition to the compulsory physical and sport education lessons, pupils may attend non-compulsory lessons after school—extracurricular sporting activity.

**123**

*2.1.2 Q-LES-Q*

for these selected areas.

*Sport for the Subjective Dimensions of Quality of Life DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88209*

A total of 345 adolescents (151 boys and 194 girls) in the decimal age ranging from 15.38 to 19.60 years (whole sample age mean was 17.13 ± 0.92; boys 17.14 ± 0.98; girls 17.12 ± 0.87) were included in the research sample. A total of 196 were labeled as sport active (sample age was 17.10 ± 0.95) and 149 as sport inactive (sample age was 17.16 ± 0.87). Sport active boys were 105 (with age 17.13 ± 1.00); sport inactive boys were 46 (with age 17.16 ± 0.92); sport active girls were 91 (with age 17.07 ± 0.88); and sport inactive girls were 103 (with age 17.16 ± 0.86). Sport active respondents were those who exercised regularly, at least twice a week (at least 120 min) of extracurricular physical activity, and sport inactive respondents were those who exercised less than 2 extracurricular hours in a week. They all attended two compulsory physical and sport education lessons in school weekly. Four main items were included in the

A questionnaire survey was conducted during the physical and sport education lessons. We used questionnaires quality of life enjoyment and satisfaction questionnaire and satisfaction with life scale. The procedures of the research were in accordance with the ethical standards of the ethics committee and with the Helsinki

Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U Test, and Kruskal-Wallis H test were taken into consideration in finding statistical differences according to test of normality. Pearson's correlation was run, and we calculated Hedges' *g* and Cohen's *d* for calculating effect size. We used the statistical program IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 17 for Windows;

The importance of preselected domains of subjective quality of life (quality of life enjoyment and satisfaction and global satisfaction with life) was investigated individually. The levels of satisfaction with each of these domains were assessed. We hypothesized that the mean values of the domains would differ as a function of gender (boys and girls) and gender and sporting activity (sport active boys, sport

The quality of life enjoyment and satisfaction questionnaire (Q-LES-Q ) is a self-reported measure designed by [79] to obtain sensitive measures of the degree of enjoyment and satisfaction in various areas of daily functioning. The Q-LES-Q is

Respondents indicate on a five-point scale how much of the time they have agreed or disagreed with regard to the statement presented in questionnaire during the past week. The five-point scale ranges from 1 not at all or never, 2 rarely, 3

sometimes, 4 often or most of the time to 5 frequently or all of the time.

From the original questionnaire, we selected 50 items from 93-item self-reported measure asking about satisfaction on items over the past week from the areas physical health and physical activity, leisure time activities, social relations, feelings, taking care of yourself, and school environment and school duties, and we put them into one domain—quality of life enjoyment and satisfaction. That is why we present the mean of the scores from selected areas rather than the total scores for each area as a summary score. The higher the score is, the greater the satisfaction indicated

a multidimensional measure of life satisfaction also for healthy people [80].

questionnaire to gain the additional data about the research sample.

SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Significance was considered at p < 0.05.

inactive boys, sport active girls, and sport inactive girls).

**2.1 Study design and data collection**

Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

**2. Methods**

*2.1.1 Participants*

*Sport for the Subjective Dimensions of Quality of Life DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88209*
