The Effect of Specialized Recreational Behaviors on Place Attachment Among Amateur Athletes

The present study aimed to determine the effects of recreation specialization on place attachment in amateur athletes. The present research was an applied-correlational study based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population consisted of all amateur athletes who had a membership record in Enghelab Sports Complex. The sample size was determined using PASS. The respondents were selected based on convenience sampling method and questionnaires were distributed among them. Finally, a total of 334 questionnaires were used for data analysis. The required data were collected using McFarlane’s recreation specialization questionnaire (1994) and place attachment questionnaire (Kyle et al., 2005). A pilot study was also conducted in order to evaluate the construct validity and the results showed that the KMO for sampling adequacy and Cronbach’s alpha of questionnaires were equal to 0.917 and 0.951, respectively. The data were statistically analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS-25 and Smart PLS-3. In addition, 20% of variance of place attachment can be predicted by recreation specialization. Based on the results of structural equation modeling, the impact of recreation specialization on place attachment of amateur athletes was adequately fitted (SRMR=0.071). According to the findings of the research, it is recommended that in sports-recreational places, the place attachment and place identity of the athletes considered by the managers. On the other hand, Improving the sports and recreation places in terms of numbers and facilities will increase the participation of specialized recreation activities.