Mental health and social integration in active older adults according to the type of sport practiced

BACKGROUND: The practice of general gymnastics, aquatic activities, dance, yoga or pilates, bring benefits to the physical and mental health of people over 65 years of age. However, the benefits of the practice of these activities on the mental health of the older adults have not been studied in depth; without establishing differences by gender. AIM: The aim of this work is to study whether the emotional state and social integration of older people differ according to the type of sport. The CUBRECAVI scale was used to assess mental health and social integration in 358 people over 61 years of age (M = 69.66, SD = 4.64). RESULTS: The results showed that older adults people who do general gymnastics are more socially integrated (F = 4.842, p = .003) than those who do dance activities; while those who prefer aquatic activities report better mental health (F = 3.6, p = .002), than those who do general gymnastics (p = .001) or dance activities (p = .029). CONCLUSION: The type of sporting activity performed by the older adults is associated with some aspects of their quality of life.