Presentation slides for World Leisure Congress 2014. Presenter Shinichi Nagata and Terry Long.

1. Psychological Impact of
Wheelchair Rugby and
Cross-Cultural Differences between
American and Japanese Players.
Shinichi Nagata
Indiana University
Terry Long
Northwest Missouri
State University
&

2. Murderball (2005)
Photo: USA Today

3. 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

4. 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

5. Why Wheelchair Rugby?
• In major adapted sports, individuals with
severe disabilities are under-represented
– Wheelchair Basketball
– Wheelchair Racing
• Majority is actually Quads!

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

7. Rational
• Life satisfaction is a key factor
• Leisure satisfaction was a major predictor of
life satisfaction,
• Favorite sports  higher life satisfaction

8. Variables
• Life Satisfaction
• Self-Esteem
• Athletic Identity

9. Theory in Cross-Cultural Difference
• Individualism and Collectivism
– May have influenced on athletic identity
(Perception as an individual)

10. 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?

11. Methods: Population & Samples
• Population: All American Wheelchair Rugby
players (Nus = 500) and all Japanese
Wheelchair Rugby players (Njp = 80)
• Sample: nus = 58
njp = 26

12. 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.

13. Methods: Data Analysis
• ANOVA
– Impact of Wheelchair Rugby (RQ1)
– Cross-cultural difference (RQ2)
• Stepwise Regression Analyses
– Predicting life satisfaction with other variables
(RQ3)

14. 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 ± 5.93
posttest 26.86 ± 6.02 19.14 ± 7.78
Self-Esteem
pretest 19.25 ± 8.98 13.41 ± 5.58
posttest 25.36 ± 4.90 15.77 ± 4.60
Athletic Identity
pretest 33.68 ± 15.44 33.36 ± 14.18
posttest 44.16 ± 10.34 45.05 ± 10.11

15. 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 .334
Self-Esteem .79 20.61 .000 .213
Athletic Identity .74 26.10 .000 .256
Interaction
Life Satisfaction .95 4.38 .040 .055
Self-Esteem .95 4.03 .048 .050
Athletic Identity .99 .08 .783 .001

16. ANOVA Results
• Country main effect
Table 3. The results of Between-subjects effects
Source
Sums 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

17. Discussion
• The results gave a quantitative support to the
qualitative evidences

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

20. Discussion
• Life satisfaction & self-esteem
– Low norm score in Japanese
– Behavioral norm difference?
• Americans value acting confident, but Japanese value
being modest

21. Discussion
• n.s. in athletic identity
– Competitiveness of American and Japanese
college students were the same level

22. Regression Results
• Life satisfaction predictors
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

23. Results
• If self-esteem impact life satisfaction, what impact
self-esteem?
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.

24. 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

25. Limitations
• Electronic survey
– No supervision  honest scores?
– Reflect overall target population?
• Small sample size for inferential statistics

26. 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

27. 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

28. Sports in Inclusion
• Why important?
– Physical & psychological health drive individuals to
go out to explore other venues
• Occupations
• Academics, etc…

29. Questions??

30. Thank you!