Sports Participation, Life Orientation, Psychological Well-Being, and Substance Use among College Students

This study was conducted to understand how sports participation, life orientation (optimism), psychological well-being, and substance use are connected among college students. The main goal was to see if playing sports helps in reducing substance use directly or indirectly by building better optimism and psychological well-being. A quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational research design was used for this study. Data was collected from a sample of 66 college students aged between 17 and 25 years using standard online questionnaires, including the Athlete Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ-16), Life Orientation Test–Revised (LOT-R), Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS), and the WHO Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST). Statistical analysis was carried out using Jamovi software. Descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk test for normality, and Spearman’s rank-order correlation were applied to test the hypotheses. The results showed a moderate and statistically significant positive relationship between sports participation and psychological well-being (ρ = 0.463, p < 0.001). A weak but statistically significant positive relationship was also found between sports participation and life orientation (ρ = 0.251, p = 0.042). These results indicate that students who are actively involved in sports generally report better mental health, higher confidence, emotional stability, and a slightly more optimistic outlook towards life. The overall finding of this study is that while active sports involvement clearly improves positive psychological traits like well-being and optimism among college students, these psychological benefits do not automatically translate into a direct reduction in substance use within this sample group. Substance use in college appears to be influenced by complex external factors like peer pressure, availability, stress, and local socio-cultural norms rather than psychological variables alone. The study suggests that universities should continue to promote sports for student mental health, but specific multi-faceted awareness programs are needed to address substance abuse effectively. Future studies should consider larger, gender-balanced samples and longitudinal designs to better understand these relationships