COVID-19 Obesity: Differences in Infection Risk Perception, Obesity Stress, Depression, and Intention to Participate in Leisure Sports Based on Weight Change.

This study examined the impact of COVID-19 on individuals' weight change and mental health by analyzing differences in risk perception, obesity, stress, depression, and intention to participate in leisure sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected in the Republic of Korea between June and August 2022. This study included 374 individuals aged ≥ 20 years who regularly participated in leisure sports. A comparative analysis subdivided the participants into two groups based on weight changes during the pandemic: weight loss and maintenance (Group 1) and weight gain (Group 2). These formed the independent variable. The dependent variables were (a) infection risk perception, (b) obesity stress, (c) depression, and (d) intention to participate in sports. The results revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups in infection risk perception, obesity stress, and depression factors, but not in the intention to participate in sports. This study demonstrated the impact of COVID-19 on weight changes and mental health. These findings can guide future quarantine strategies to control new infectious diseases and policies to prevent obesity and stress.

Social Media Marketing for Professional Soccer Clubs: Focusing on the Quality of the Relationship Between the Club and Fans

This study investigates how the social networking service (SNS) activities of professional football clubs have affected the quality of the relationship between clubs and fans during the period in which the COVID-19 pandemic caused limited fan service activities. This study selected a sample population of professional football fans, provided by football clubs, who were experienced in using SNSs. Data collected through convenience sampling using 215 questionnaires completed online by respondents were analyzed using frequency, exploratory factor, reliability, correlation, and multivariate regression analyses with SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 22.0. The study’s findings are as follows: among the sub-factors of professional football clubs’ SNS characteristics, interactivity and playfulness have a positive (+) effect on trust, a sub-factor of relationship quality, but information and recentness do not have a significant effect;interactivity, information, and playfulness have a positive (+) effect on immersion, a sub-factor of relationship quality, but recentness does not have a significant effect;and interactivity, information, playfulness, and recentness have a positive (+) effect on satisfaction, a sub-factor of relationship quality. This study provides practical and academic data useful for effective marketing activities by investigating how clubs’ SNS marketing activities can help fans connect with them despite the limitations owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Gap between Relaxation of Government Quarantine Policy and Perceptions of COVID-19 among the General Public in Sports: Focusing on Vaccination Status.

Although an increasing number of people are getting vaccinated for COVID-19 and quarantine policies are easing owing to fatigue from high-intensity social distancing, people's fear remains. This study attempted to determine the appropriateness of quarantine policies that are gradually easing by comparing and analyzing sports participation and respiratory infection perception recognized by sports participants according to vaccination status. Data were collected from 302 ordinary Korean citizens aged 20 or older for three months from November 2021 in the Republic of Korea. From the survey respondents, data on the main factors of this study included (a) demographic information, (b) vaccination, (c) loyalty in sports, (d) behavioral intention to participate in sports, (e) infection anxiety from others, and (f) risk perception of COVID-19. As a result, the survey respondents, subdivided into an unvaccinated group (Group 1) and a vaccinated group (Group 2), derived statistically significant results on sports participation and respiratory infection perception. Specifically, survey participants who had completed all secondary vaccinations showed a relatively higher (a) loyalty in sport (M = 3.789), (b) behavioral intention for participation in sport (M = 4.056), and (c) infection anxiety from others (M = 3.548), but showed a relatively lower (a) risk perception of COVID-19 (sensitivity) (M = 3.494). The results of this study could be utilized as valuable data to minimize the gap between the relaxation of government quarantine policy and perceptions of COVID-19 among the general public in sports, which have not yet been clarified.

Changes in the Type of Sports Activity Due to COVID-19: Hypochondriasis and the Intention of Continuous Participation in Sports.

This study focused on empirically analyzing sport activity participants' perceptions of hypochondriasis caused by fear of infection and changes in continuous participatory behavior patterns. To this end, a comparative analysis was conducted with a focus on the forms of participation and age of sport activity participants. For the final comparative analysis, a 2 × 3 factorial multivariate analysis of variance was conducted after confirming the validity and reliability of data based on 229 questionnaires collected from healthy respondents who have never been infected with COVID-19. The results showed statistically significant differences between worry about illness, which is a subscale of hypochondriasis, disease phobia, thanatophobia, and intent to continue according to age. Statistically significant differences were also found when considering the type of sport for worry about illness, which is a subscale of hypochondriasis, disease phobia, symptom preoccupation, and intent to continue. Furthermore, interaction effects between the two independent variables, i.e., age and type of sport, were found for disease phobia, a subscale of hypochondriasis, and thanatophobia. In summary, age and type of sport, which are important factors for the COVID-19 infection and symptoms, were found to affect the sport activity patterns. These results proved that COVID-19 may have caused the participants to have different perceptions depending on their characteristics and change their form of continuous participation. These findings will provide useful data for predicting the perception and behavioral patterns of sports participants if diseases like COVID-19 occur in the future. They also show how to live a healthy life through exercise.