The Relationship between Korean Adolescents’ Sports Participation, Internal Health Locus of Control, and Wellness during COVID-19

This study was aimed at providing practical information to improve Korean adolescents’ wellness by empirically identifying its correlation with sports participation and having an internal health locus of control (IHLC) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study comprised both a pilot test and a main study. We recruited 844 Korean adolescents as subjects in January 2021 to participate in an online self-reported survey. The reliability and validity of the scales used (sports participation, IHLC, and wellness) were verified through a pilot test. In the main study, we verified the differences between all variables according to adolescents’ demographic characteristics and the structural relationship of sports participation, IHLC, and wellness. Sports participation had a positive effect on IHLC (p < 0.001) and wellness (p < 0.001). Additionally, IHLC had a positive effect on wellness (p < 0.001). In juvenile educational institutions, there is a need to develop strategies to increase wellness, sports participation, and IHLC among adolescent students, which can improve their wellness in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.


Introduction
With the global spread of the coronavirus disease , the World Health Organization (WHO) identified COVID-19 as a "public health emergency of international concern" on 30 January 2020, and declared it a pandemic on 11 March-the highest level of risk for infectious diseases. As a result, people faced unprecedented restrictions worldwide, particularly that of social distancing. While it is one of the most effective measures to prevent COVID-19 spread, social distancing poses its own risks for mental health. Therefore, COVID-19 poses both direct and indirect risks to health. For instance, Nsearchou et al. [1] found that fear and worry about contracting COVID-19 caused stress, depression, anxiety, obsessive symptoms, somatic symptoms, and intensified behavioral problems, which could negatively affect the health of young people. Further, according to O'Connor et al. [2], suicidal thoughts among young adults increased in the initial weeks of social distancing, with one in seven (14%) reporting suicidal ideation. Though not directly comparable to the pre-COVID-19 period, the rate of suicidal thoughts among young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic (12.5-14.4%) was higher than that reported in another study before the pandemic (11%) [3].
Moreover, a longer stay at home due to social distancing can lead to increased sedentary behavior (such as playing games, watching television, and using mobile devices) and the reduction or avoidance of regular physical activity (PA), which can result in chronic enhance the wellness of adolescents in the context of COVID-19 by empirically identifying the relationship between sports participation, IHLC, and wellness. Therefore, in this study, we developed the following hypotheses: first, that there are differences between IHLC and wellness depending on the frequency, intensity, and duration of sports participation (Hypothesis 1); second, that sports participation has a positive effect on IHLC (Hypothesis 2); third, that sports participation has a positive effect on wellness (Hypothesis 3); and fourth, that IHLC has a positive effect on wellness (Hypothesis 4).

Participants
In total, 844 Korean adolescents studying in either middle school or high school were recruited through convenience sampling. Among them, 212 adolescents were selected for the preliminary survey, and 632 were selected for the main survey. To collect data, we conducted an online self-reported survey (presented in Google Forms) from January 7 to January 15, 2021. This study was conducted after obtaining ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board of Jeonbuk National University (JBNU 2020-11-010-001). The demographic characteristics of participants are shown in Table 1.

Instruments
Items regarding demographic variables collected data regarding participants' sex as well as the frequency, intensity, and duration of their sports participation, which were considered to be closely related to IHLC and wellness variables.
Items related to sports participation were based on the sports participation classification model of Snyder and Spreitzer [26], using measures that verified reliability and validity in Lee et al. [27]. Sports participation consists of three sub-dimensions: cognitive participation, behavioral participation, and affective participation. To assess HLC, we used a questionnaire developed by Wallston et al. [28]. HLC consists of three sub-dimensions: internal, external, and luck, but only six items of HLC were used as a single variable to meet the purpose of this study. Anspaugh et al. [29] modified and supplemented the wellness questionnaire to be used for adolescents. Wellness consists of five sub-dimensions: physical, social, mental, intellectual, and emotional health. Sports participation, IHLC, and wellness were scored on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 5 (very much so) to 1 (not at all).

Reliability and Validity of the Instruments
To verify the reliability of the items utilized in this study, Cronbach's α was used to check their internal consistency, while confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to verify their validity. The Cronbach's α for all observed variables ranged from 0.633 to 0.938, all of which were above the baseline of 0.6, which indicated that all variables exhibited high internal consistency. However, the "alpha if item deleted" was higher than "Cronbach's α," indicating higher reliability when the item was removed. Thus, the study was conducted after deleting the two corresponding questions (mental health #1 and intellectual health #1).
The proposed model's fit is shown as follows: root mean square residual (RMR) = 0.050, normed fit index (NFI) = 0.814, incremental fit index (IFI) = 0.851, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.849, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.125, and did not meet the baseline. Thus, some observed variables (mental health) were eliminated based on their squared multiple correlation (SMC) values. As a result, the goodness-of-fit of the modified model can be assessed as acceptable as RMR = 0.042, NFI = 0.902, IFI = 0.931, CFI = 0.931, RMSEA = 0.099.
Next, the validity of the model was verified according to the CFA results. First, three methods were used to verify convergent validity, namely, standardized regression coefficient, average variance extraction (AVE), and construct reliability (CR). The results of the CFA are shown in Table 2. The range of standardized regression coefficients for all variables lay between 0.571 and 0.922, while the significance (critical ratio) was 1.965 or higher. Furthermore, the CR was found to be 0.980-0.986, and the AVE was 0.906-0.958, which satisfied all three conditions to secure convergent validity. Next, the correlations of the constructs and AVE were compared to verify the discriminant validity. The results are shown in Table 3. Discriminant validity was verified by selecting the two variables with the highest correlation and comparing them with the values of the AVE. The square of the correlation coefficient of "IHLC ↔ wellness," which had the highest correlation, was 0.368, which was lower than the AVE of IHLC (0.906) and wellness (0.956), thereby securing the discriminant validity between variables.

Procedure and Data Analysis
This study was conducted with 844 Korean adolescents through an online questionnaire survey from January 7 to January 15, 2021. We used a questionnaire implemented in a prior study to ensure reliability and validity, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0 software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The data analysis methods were as follows: (1) A frequency analysis was conducted to check the general characteristics of the subjects. (2) Cronbach's α was used to verify the reliability of the survey tool. (3) To verify the validity of the survey tool, a CFA was conducted. (4) To verify the level of participants' recognition of each variable, descriptive statistics were extracted. (5) Independent samples t-test and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to verify the differences between each variable according to demographic characteristics. (6) A path analysis was conducted to verify more accurately the relationship between sports participation, IHLC, and wellness.

Descriptive Statistical Analysis
To confirm the descriptive statistics of the variables (sports participation, IHLC, and wellness) in this study, the overall and sub-dimensions were analyzed. The results of this analysis are shown in Table 4. The mean values ranged from 2.82 to 3.95, and the standard deviation values ranged from 0.537 to 1.181. Next, skewness and kurtosis were calculated. In the case of skewness, acceptable values correspond to <±3.0, and for kurtosis <±10.0, which is the basis for a univariate normality violation, so the normal distribution can generally be assessed as having met the conditions [30,31]. Through our analysis, we found that the absolute values of skewness ranged from 0.09 to 0.51 and the absolute values of kurtosis ranged from 0.15 to 2.50. These results can be evaluated as satisfying the conditions that meet the normality of the structural equation. The average age for male participants was 16.01 (±1.58 years; range 14-18 years) and 15.91 (±1.38 years; range 14-18 years) for female participants.

Sex Differences among Variables
An analysis of the differences in each variable by sex is shown in Table 5 Similarly, male students also exhibited higher scores in emotional health (M = 3.67) than female students (M = 3.32). IHLC exhibited no sex differences. Values are mean ± standard deviation. *** p < 0.001, tested using an independent samples t-test.

Differences among Variables by School Level
An analysis of the differences in each variable by school level is shown in Table 6. Middle school students had higher cognitive participation (M = 3.29), behavioral participation (M = 3.00), affective participation (M = 3.48), intellectual health (M = 3.58), and emotional health (M = 3.54) scores than their high school counterparts (who scored M = 2.66, 2.34, 3.18, 3.31, and 3.25, respectively). IHLC exhibited no education-level differences. Values are mean ± standard deviation. *** p < 0.001, tested using an independent samples t-test.

Differences among Variables by Sports Participation Frequency
The results of analyzing the differences of each variable by frequency of sports participation per week are shown in Table 7. In the sports participation section, the cognitive participation (F = 53.222, p < 0.001), behavioral participation (F = 91.852, p < 0.001), and affective participation (F = 35.916, p < 0.001) variables showed statistically significant differences according to the weekly frequency of sports participation, as did IHLC (F = 16.826, p < 0.001). Similarly, wellness showed statistically significant differences according to the weekly frequency of sports participation in intellectual health (F = 132.108, p < 0.001) and emotional health (F = 105.735, p < 0.001) but not in social health (F = 1.851, p = 0.137). However, there was no difference between groups in the social health variable. Values are mean ± standard deviation. A: None, B: Once, C: 2-3 times, D: 4 or more *** p < 0.001, tested using a one-way analysis of variance.

Differences among Variables by Sports Participation Time
Differences among variables according to the time of participation in sports are shown in Table 8. Cognitive participation (F = 78.539, p < 0.001), behavioral participation (F = 113.103, p < 0.001), and affective participation (F = 51.815, p < 0.001) all showed statistically significant differences according to sports participation time, as did IHLC (F = 18.247, p < 0.001). Additionally, social health (F = 3.580, p = 0.014), intellectual health (F = 115.452, p < 0.001), and emotional health (F = 97.557, p = 0.014) showed statistically significant differences according to sports participation time.

Path Analysis
In this study, three latent variables (sports participation, IHLC, and wellness) and 10 observed variables (affective participation, behavioral participation, cognitive participation, intimate behavior, emotional control, autonomous behavior, hygiene, exercise, healthy diet, and interpersonal relationships) were constructed to verify the hypothesis model. The hypothesis model's fit was assessed to be acceptable as RMR = 0.039, NFI = 0.942, IFI = 0.951, CFI = 0.951, and RMSEA = 0.087.
The results of the verification of our research hypotheses, derived from the path analysis, are shown in Table 10. First, the path coefficient that verified the impact of sports participation on IHLC was 0.440 (t = 9.300), which was statistically significant. Therefore, sports participation had a positive impact on IHLC. Second, the path coefficient that verified the effect of sports participation on wellness was 0.511 (t = 7.311), which was statistically significant, meaning sports participation had a positive effect on wellness. Third, the path coefficient validated by IHLC on wellness was 0.539 (t = 7.004), which was statistically significant. Therefore, IHLC had a positive effect on wellness. <0.001 *** Accepted SC = standardized coefficient, RC = regression coefficient, SE = standard error, CR = critical ratio; *** p < 0.001, tested using path analysis.

Discussion
In this section, we present a comparative analysis between the results of our study and those of previous studies.
First, examining each dependent variable in terms of the demographic variables shows partial differences. Specifically, male students had higher sports participation and wellness scores than female students (Table 7). Additionally, middle school students had higher sports participation and wellness scores than high school students (Table 8). A study by Groffik et al. [32] found that sports participation varies significantly between sex, and many prior studies have reported that health varies depending on the degree of sports participation [33]. In the aforementioned studies, sports participation inside and outside of school varied significantly, as some high school students had to concentrate on obtaining employment and passing college entrance exams [32,33]. Further, middle school students have been reported to have higher levels of sports participation than high school students. This difference in sports participation between middle and high school students has been previously reported by Shull et al. [34]. Therefore, female students and high school students should be encouraged to participate in sports to improve their wellness. However, due to social distancing, adolescents' participation in team sports has been restricted; therefore, sports participation guidelines for maintaining minimal health in schools where sports activities are not properly conducted must be proposed and encouraged. For example, 30 min of exercise for at least five days a week, such as simple aerobic exercise, can be performed at home; alternatively, students could be encouraged to take 13,000-16,000 steps per day. These and other exercise options should be included in the guidelines to improve students' wellness. Further, our results show that as the level of sports participation (frequency, intensity, and duration) increased, all variables, such as sports participation, IHLC, and wellness scores, increased by statistically significant amounts. This is consistent with Hui et al. [35] and Ertan and Özyol [36], who reported that knowledge of the benefits of sports participation is highly related to the level of sports participation, which can be increased through cognitive and affective participation in sports activities. In addition, Mercer et al. [37] showed that a strong IHLC was associated with high levels of sports participation. Corder et al. [38] showed that adolescents are more likely to develop obesity, cardiovascular problems, and mental problems if they lack regular and vigorous-intensity sports participation, a finding that was corroborated by Snedden et al. [39]. Therefore, in a pandemic situation where gyms, dance/fitness centers, swimming pools, and parks are being closed, it is crucial for adolescents to find PA alternatives, and habitual exercise routines should be changed to maintain PA. Especially, implementing an adapted physical training program at home during the period of the pandemic, which may well extend from weeks to months, will help decrease the negative physiological and psychological impact of sedentary behaviors [40].
Second, adolescents' sports participation had a statistically significant positive effect on developing an IHLC. According to Marr and Wilcox's [25] study on college students, having an IHLC positively influences sports participation by using self-efficacy and social support as mediators. Additionally, in Annesi's study [21], participants' IHLC was enhanced after 26 weeks of sports participation. Further, according to Towers et al. [41], developing an IHLC promotes exercise and sports participation by decreasing resistance toward exercise. Similarly, Huang et al. [42] suggested that having an IHLC promotes women's sports participation. However, in that study, IHLC was statistically strengthened only when participants participated in sports at least four times per week, at least 60 min per session, over a period of six months or more; therefore, it can be interpreted that sporadic sports participation had a very slight or little effect on IHLC. According to the results of the present study, lack of sports participation can lead to a decrease in IHLC; for this reason, adolescents may be experiencing various forms of sports participation at home. As regular sports participation has inevitably decreased because of the pandemic [43], regular, long-term, moderate-intensity physical exercise, which can be performed in a home setting, appears to be the best option for all those affected by social distancing regulations [14].
Third, sports participation had a positive effect on adolescents' wellness within a statistically significant range. Ohuruogu [44] investigated the main approaches to attain optimal wellness and found that sports participation and stamina can not only prevent diseases but also improve quality of life, as individuals who regularly participate in sports live longer and healthier lives. Additionally, Akbar et al. [45] found that sports participation has numerous benefits for emotional, mental, and physical health, stating that, since it is affected by family and community, maintaining healthy family relationships and systematic PA programs are important for adolescent health. In current study, it was also found that the greater the frequency, intensity, and duration of sports participation, the more the positive effects there were on all sub-dimensions of wellness.
Adolescence is an important period for the development of mental health and wellness [46,47]. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, contact with other people and the use of sports facilities are limited, which negatively affects adolescents' wellness. For example, according to Qi et al.'s [48] study of 645 Chinese adults, 64.8% reported lower levels of PA and increased sedentary time during COVID-19. If this trend also applies to adolescents, it can cause indirect physical and mental problems as well as direct infection from the coronavirus [49]. Thus, it is necessary to find a way to promote sports participation because it is possible to strengthen the immune system even with moderate exercise [12].
Fourth, having an IHLC had a positive effect on adolescents' wellness within a statistically significant range. According to a study by Xia and Ma [23], having an IHLC enhances mental health and health-related behavior by reducing the intensity of stress. Additionally, a study by Sharif et al. [22] on women with diseases suggested that to overcome diseases and actively treat them, a change from PHLC to IHLC should be made. Moreover, Steptoe and Wardle [50] found that students with a strong IHLC are more likely to exercise, eat breakfast regularly, brush their teeth daily, eat fiber, limit their salt intake, and avoid eating fatty foods. Therefore, it is believed that students with a strong IHLC are healthier because of such habits. These findings have been supported by Moshki and Ashtarian [51], who found that students with a strong IHLC are highly motivated to stay healthy.
Effective prevention of COVID-19 is highly dependent on one's individual efforts to quarantine and socially distance. However, considering how easy it is to become exposed to the virus, individuals may develop the perception that their health is determined purely by chance, which can lead to the neglect of isolation measures. Particularly, since having an IHLC has a positive effect on mental health, strengthening it could reduce adolescent suicide rates. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen adolescents' IHLC and promote sports participation during social isolation situations such as those imposed by the current pandemic [52,53].
Several limitations emerged over the course of this study. First, this study examined the relationship between sports participation and wellness, using only IHLC as a variable. However, in another study, PHLC was reported to play an important role in promoting health outcomes [54]; therefore, future studies should consider other types of health loci of control, such as PHLC and CHLC, to verify the relationship between sports participation and wellness further. Second, in this study, we set sports participation, PA level, and IHLC as variables affecting the well-being of adolescents during the pandemic; however, there may be many more variables affecting wellness. Therefore, a multidimensional analysis of other variables affecting wellness should be conducted in future research. Third, this study examined the differences among variables according to the structural relationship between sports participation, IHLC, and wellness; however, there was a lack of qualitative analysis of how each variable influenced the other. Therefore, it is also necessary for future studies to investigate how and why each variable affects wellness. In particular, the mechanism by which IHLC affects sports participation and wellness should be identified. Fourth, all variables in this study were measured on a self-report scale and could have been affected by self-reporting bias. Therefore, a complementary method should be developed in future studies.

Conclusions
In juvenile educational institutions, there is a need to develop strategies to increase the wellness, sports participation, and IHLC of adolescent students, which can improve their wellness in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.