The effect of participation in sport-based leisure activities on social empowerment and social development of school teachers

The present study was designed and conducted to investigate the effect of participation in sports-based leisure activities on social empowerment and social development of school teachers. The method of the present study was descriptive-analytical and was a causal method based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the study consisted of all school teachers in Bushehr province, but an accurate and comprehensive number of them was not available. Therefore, based on the Cochran sample size formula, 384 people were identified as the research sample. After distributing and collecting research questionnaires, 321 questionnaires were analyzed. The sampling method in the present study was random clusters according to the geographical areas of Bushehr province. Data collection tools in the present study included three questionnaires of leisure status based on sports Karimian et al. (2013), social empowerment of Merle et al. (2011) and social development of Ellis and Itzman (1990). The statistical method used in the present study included the structural equation method. The results showed that participation in sports-based leisure activities has a significant effect on social empowerment of 0.498. The results showed that participation in sports-based leisure activities has a significant effect on social development of 0.527.