Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between sport and happiness in a group of young first-year students in the Faculty of Physical Exercise and Sports Sciences-INEF at the Technical University of Madrid (2014-15 academic year). The aim was to find out their self-reported level of subjective happiness, whether they thought that sport could make people happier and whether it had made them happier; if they answered affirmatively, they were also asked in what way they thought it had done so. The subjective perception of happiness survey was answered by 229 students (16.6% women) and the relationship between sport and happiness survey by 216 (15.3% women). The results show a level of happiness reported by the students of 8 points on a scale of 1 to 10, the difference between men and women being minimal (8 and 8.2 respectively). Virtually all the students think that sport can make people happier and that it has also made them happier. In terms of the reasons why sport promotes higher levels of happiness in general, they argue that it improves socialisation, helps people to unwind, because it is fun and it is also good for your health. The first three are repeated when they were asked about sport’s impact on their own happiness, although the fourth changes and instead of health, which drops very significantly, they indicate improving skills in the same proportion as having fun.