Attitudes toward sports, academic motivation, and academic life satisfaction: a cross-sectional analysis of indirect associations

BackgroundAcademic life satisfaction is an important indicator of students' experiences in higher education, yet the mechanisms linking sport-related attitudes to academic life remain unclear. Guided by Self-Determination Theory, this study examined the associations among attitudes toward sports, academic motivation, and academic life satisfaction, with particular attention to the role of academic motivation as a statistical linking variable.MethodsA cross-sectional correlational design was employed with 434 undergraduate students from non-sport academic programs at a public university in Türkiye. Participants completed measures of attitudes toward sports, academic motivation, and academic life satisfaction. The hypothesized indirect association model was tested using Hayes' PROCESS Model 4 with bootstrap procedures.ResultsPositive attitudes toward sports were associated with higher academic motivation and greater academic life satisfaction. Academic motivation was also positively associated with academic life satisfaction. Although attitudes toward sports were initially related to academic life satisfaction, this direct association became non-significant when academic motivation was included in the model. The indirect association involving academic motivation was statistically significant.ConclusionThe findings suggest that the relationship between attitudes toward sports and academic life satisfaction is better understood when academic motivation is taken into account. Rather than exerting a direct association, positive attitudes toward sports may be related to academic life satisfaction through motivational processes associated with learning. Although causal conclusions cannot be drawn from the cross-sectional design, the findings highlight the importance of motivation in understanding how students' orientations toward sport are related to their academic experiences.