The Effect of Watching Sports Matches on Mental Health with the Moderating Role of Sports Fans (Case study: National football team matches in the 2019 Asian Cup)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of happiness in watching sports matches on mental health with the moderating role of sports fans. The present research in terms of applied purpose and research method and  implementation path was quantitative. The statistical population of the present study is the people who followed the Asian Cup (2019) matches in the UAE through mass media such as television, radio and the Internet, which were selected by random sampling. In order to estimate the sample size, SPSS Sample Power software was used, considering the maximum independent variables affecting the dependent variable involved in the research regression models and the significant level of 0.05, power above 0.80 and effect volume of 0.05, the sample size was estimated to be 370 people. In order to collect data, the questionnaire of Kim et al. (2018) was used. This questionnaire measures 12 questions, including happiness caused by watching matches (5 questions), mental health (4 questions), and sports fans (3 questions). The effect of happiness on mental health and the role of fan moderator at the level of 5% error was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and Smart PLS software version 2.3.6. The results showed that the variable of happiness affects mental health. The results also showed that sports advocacy plays a moderating role between happiness due to watching sports and mental health. Watching sports matches for the fan can be one of the factors that have a positive effect on its mind and health, which is suggested to provide a platform for the matches of popular teams to be broadcast in a better way and live.