Relationship of Age and Sports Participation to Quality of Life Among Prison Inmates in Nigeria

Abstract

Age is regarded as a key predictor of prison adaptation by inmates. Increasing age of inmates is synonymous with increased anxiety and depression, low self-esteem and poor general quality of life perception. Further evidence is required on inmates’ age as a moderator of QOL outcome. The study investigated the relationship of age and sport participation on quality of life and on each of the three domains of QOL- physical health, social and psychological wellbeing among inmates in Ilesa Prison in Osun State of Nigeria. The study employed experimental pretest – posttest control research design. This study was carried out over a 10 week period at the Ilesa prison in Osun State, Nigerian. 140 inmates whose ages range between 20 and 35 were selected for the study. The respondents were grouped into two age categories of 20-27 and 28-35 years. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF) was adapted and used to determine the inmates’ perception of their quality of life during confinement. The data collected were analysed against each of the age categories (20-27 and 28 – 35 years) of the respondents with descriptive and inferential statistics. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether differences observed on the interactive effects of age and sports participation on the perceived physical health, social and psychological wellbeing domains of QOL measurements among the inmates are significant. The study showed that the calculated F-ratio of 8.567 and 6.688 for inmates perception of their quality of life was significant at p=0.000 when tested at 0.05 level of significance for respondents within 20-27 and 28-35 years respectively. It was further revealed that the calculated F-ratio of 11.273 and 11.571 for inmates perception of their physical health was significant at p=0.000 for subjects within 20-27 and 28- 35 years respectively. Also, the study showed that the calculated F-ratio of 11.111 and 12.523 for inmates perception of their psychological wellbeing was significant at p=0.000 for respondents within 20-27 and 28 – 35 years respectively. Finally, the study revealed that the calculated F-ratio of 3.758 for inmates perception of their social wellbeing was significant at p=0.000 for respondents within 20-27 years while the calculated F-ratio of 1.903 for inmates perception of their social wellbeing was not significant at p=0.05 for respondents within the age of 28-35 years. It was concluded that there is relationship between age and sport participation on general quality of life of inmates. However, there is no relationship between age and sport participation on social wellbeing perception among inmates within the age category of 28 and 35 years in Ilesa Prison

Keywords: Inmates, inmate’s age, sport participation, wellbeing, quality of life