Investigation of the relationship between dispositional flow state, sensation seeking and ski resort preference of skiing and snowboarding participants

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between was to examine dispositional flow state, sensation seeking and ski resort preference of skiing and snowboarding participants. The sample of this study constituted 510 (126 female x̄ = 23.94 ± 5.79 years; 384 male x̄ = 27.33 ± 7.87 years) skiers and snowboarders from varied ski resort between the years 2018–2019. A demographic questionnaire, The Contextual Sensation Seeking Questionnaire for Skiing and Snowboarding (CSSQ-S) Ski Resort Preference Scale (SRPS) and Dispositional Flow Scale-2—Short Form (DFS2-SF) were used to collect data. Before the statistical analysis, coefficient of kurtosis, coefficient of skewness and test of normality (Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test) of the data were examined and the deviation from the normal distribution was determined meaningless (p > .05). Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the relationship between variables. The mediator effect of sensation seeking in the relationship between ski resort preference and flow of participants were examined with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The correlation value between the variables was determined between 0.196–0.549. (P < 0.01). There is causal relationship between; SRPS and DFS2-SF (β = .187, p < .01), SRPS and CSSQ-S (β = .932, p .05) and causal relationship between CSSQ-S and DFS2-SF was significantly increased (β = .722, p < .01). When the fit indexes of the models were examined, all values in all four models indicated acceptable/perfect fit. The results show that ski resort preference has a significant causal relationship on flow state and sensation seeking in skier and snowboarders. However, when sensation seeking is included in the model as a mediating factor, effect of the ski resort preference on the flow state disappears, while the effect level of sensation seeking increases