Perceived gym service quality, leisure boredom, and loneliness among leisure sport participants: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study aims to examine the relationships among perceived gym service quality, leisure boredom, and loneliness among leisure sport participants, and to examine the statistical indirect relationship between perceived gym service quality and loneliness in relation to leisure boredom. This research was conducted using a cross-sectional and correlational research design on volunteer individuals who regularly attend fitness centers in the Kayapinar district of Diyarbakir, Türkiye. Data were collected face-to-face on different days and times. In addition to a demographic information form, the Perceived Service Quality Scale, the Leisure Time Boredom Perception Scale, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale were used in the study. SPSS 26.0 software and the PROCESS Macro (v4.2) extension were used for data analysis. The data were determined to exhibit a normal distribution, and parametric tests were applied accordingly. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t -test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses were applied during the analysis process. Furthermore, the statistical indirect relationship between gym service quality and loneliness in relation to leisure boredom was examined using the PROCESS Macro with 5,000 bootstrap samples. Correlation analysis revealed low-level, statistically significant relationships: a positive relationship between perceived gym service quality and perceived leisure boredom, a negative relationship between perceived gym service quality and loneliness, and a positive relationship between perceived leisure boredom and loneliness ( p < 0.001). Hierarchical regression analysis identified a negative statistical relationship between gym service quality and loneliness and a positive statistical relationship between perceived leisure boredom and loneliness. The final model explained 10.8% of the total variance in loneliness scores. Analysis of statistical indirect relationships showed that while the direct statistical relationship between gym service quality and loneliness was negative, the indirect statistical relationship involving perceived leisure boredom was positive and statistically significant. In conclusion, negative statistical relationships were identified between perceived gym service quality and loneliness, while positive statistical relationships were found between perceived gym service quality and perceived leisure boredom, as well as between perceived leisure boredom and loneliness. Furthermore, the direct statistical relationship between gym service quality and loneliness was negative, whereas the statistical indirect relationship involving perceived leisure boredom was positive and statistically significant. Given the study's cross-sectional design and the simultaneous assessment of variables, the findings should be interpreted within the framework of the statistical relationships between the variables and the statistical decomposition of the observed cross-sectional relationships; temporal ordering cannot be established, and causal inferences cannot be drawn.