Relationship between sensation seeking and psychological well-being in long-distance runners: Mediating effect of flow experience

Long-distance running provides a unique context in which experiential states such as flow and personality traits such as sensation seeking may influence psychological outcomes. This study examined the relationships among sensation seeking, flow experience, and psychological well-being in long-distance runners, with particular emphasis on the mediating role of flow experience. A total of 383 adult runners participated in the study. Data on sensation seeking, flow experience, and psychological well-being were collected using validated self-report measures. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized mediation model. The findings indicated that sensation seeking positively predicted flow experience, and flow experience positively predicted psychological well-being. Although the direct effect of sensation seeking on psychological well-being was not statistically significant, a significant indirect effect was observed through flow experience, supporting an indirect-only mediation model. Supplementary analyses examining the three dimensions of flow experience indicated that only focused attention demonstrated a significant specific indirect effect, whereas enjoyment/curiosity and time distortion did not. These findings highlight the central role of flow experience in explaining psychological well-being among long-distance runners and suggest that attentional engagement during running represents the primary experiential mechanism through which sensation-seeking tendencies contribute to positive psychological outcomes. The results further suggest that training environments promoting sustained attention, appropriate challenge, and deep engagement may support psychological well-being more effectively than approaches focusing primarily on dispositional characteristics.