摘要：Swimming is a popular sport and leisure activity worldwide, but its psychological effects may vary in different situations. The current in situ study compared swimmers’ acute psychological responses in leisure swimming and athletic training. Fifty-four swimmers (27 in each group) were tested in their normal swimming environments. Measures obtained pre- and post-swimming included positive- and negative affect, the self-appraisal of the momentary physical- and mental well-being, and personal satisfaction with the completed swimming session. Leisure swimmers reported positive changes in all dependent measures (p ≤ .001), but this was not the case for the competitive swimmers (p > .05). Further, leisure swimmers were more personally satisfied with the completed swimming session than competitive swimmers (p = .03). Consequently, the psychological benefits of swimming emerged in leisure swimming, but not after athletic training. Therefore, the subjective experience stemming from swimming may be largely determined by the context in which the activity is performed.
