Qualitative analysis reveals that high-involvement baseball fandom fosters multidimensional well-being in female spectators, highlighting sports engagement as an emotional sanctuary.
Key Points
To investigate the sociopsychological processes and interaction strategies through which high-involvement baseball fandom relates to the subjective well-being of female spectators in South Korea.
Conducted a secondary qualitative analysis using grounded-theory coding procedures on prior interview data.
Analyzed in-depth semi-structured interviews from nine long-term, highly involved female KBO spectators (N=9).
Mapped participant experiences against established frameworks of bottom-up, hedonic, social, and eudaimonic well-being.
Fandom generated immediate hedonic well-being via dramatic game narratives and collective crowd dynamics, alongside social well-being through regional belonging and community solidarity.
Engagement functioned as an 'emotional sanctuary' sustained by collective identity integration and daily behavioral immersion.
Spectators mitigated fandom-related distress through active restoration strategies, integrating sustained sports fandom into emotional maturity and long-term life meaning.