The Relationship Between Watching Baseball Games at a Home Stadium and Team Identification With Subjective Well‐Being Among Middle‐Aged and Older Baseball Fans

Aim This study examined the relationship between attending baseball games at a home stadium and team identification (including role team identification, group team identification, and fan community identification) with a professional Japanese baseball team, as well as subjective well‐being (comprising positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction) among middle‐aged and older fans of the Chunichi Dragons. Methods A cross‐sectional online survey was conducted to collect data from 675 Japanese middle‐aged and older fans of the Chunichi Dragons (334 men and 341 women; mean age = 59.34 ± 10.79 years) residing in any of three Tokai prefectures (Aichi, Gifu, and Mie). The analysis items included the frequency of attending baseball games at the Vantelin Dome Nagoya (VDN), overall satisfaction with watching baseball games at VDN, team identification, and subjective well‐being. Results Regression analysis revealed an inverted U‐shaped curvilinear relationship between life satisfaction and role team identification (squared term B = −0.092, p = 0.039), a positive relationship between fan community identification and life satisfaction ( B = 0.278, p < 0.001), and a positive relationship between group team identification and negative affect ( B = 0.240, p < 0.001). General satisfaction with watching baseball games at VDN was related to life satisfaction ( B = 0.112, p = 0.043), positive affect ( B = 0.138, p < 0.001), and negative affect ( B = −0.079, p = 0.042); however, the frequency of attending baseball games at VDN was not associated with subjective well‐being. Conclusion Spectator satisfaction was positively associated with subjective well‐being, whereas the relationship between team identification and subjective well‐being varies based on the types of team identification.