Association between sports enjoyment and academic resilience: expanding empirical evidence in the Philippine higher education context

This study investigated the association between sports enjoyment and academic resilience among college student-athletes from a selected higher education institution in the Philippines. Existing research suggests that enjoyment derived from physical activity can positively influence psychological outcomes, yet the direct relationship between sports enjoyment and academic resilience remains underexplored in Southeast Asian contexts. Employing a quantitative, correlational research design, data were collected from 229 purposively selected student-athletes through an online survey consisting of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale-8 (PACES-8) and the Academic Resilience Scale-30 (ARS-30). Instrument reliability and validity were first established. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Version 29 for macOS. A simple linear regression analysis indicated that sports enjoyment was not significantly associated with academic resilience (R² = .002, p = .477), leading to the rejection of the study’s hypothesis. This result suggests that although sports enjoyment may enhance well-being and athletic participation, it may not directly contribute to the development of academic resilience. The findings point to the need for more comprehensive models that include mediating or moderating variables such as academic self-efficacy, social support, or perceived control. This study contributes context-specific evidence to the literature on student-athlete well-being in the Philippines and underscores the importance of multidimensional interventions that extend beyond emotional experiences in sport.