Association Of Physical Health And Exercise Intervention With Stress, Depression And Life Satisfaction Among Chinese College Students

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study explores the relationship between Chinese college Students' different levels of physical health and their perceived stress, depression and life satisfaction, then to analyze the impact of university exercise intervention courses on the above-mentioned mental health. METHODS: The sample consisted of 991 college students (Males: N=371,Age: M=19.07 years old) who were voluntarily enrolled in a 10-week weekly exercise intervention course in a famous university of china fitness courses,personal net-separating courses,collective antagonism courses.Before exercise intervention,they uniformly scored physique tests according to the requirements of the National Standards for Physical Health of Students. Perceived Stress Scale (Sheldon Cohen, 1994), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (Hann, Winter & Jacobsen, 1999) and Life Satisfaction Scale (Dew & Huebner, 1994) were filled in before and after exercise intervention. RESULTS: The better the physical health of College students, the higher their life satisfaction (R=-0.121,P<.01), and the lower their perceived stress (R=-0.085,P<.01) and depression level (R=-0.052,P<.05). Significant decreases were observed for depression in genders, grades and sports courses (T=12.056,P<.01). The students whose physical health level are "excellent" (F=-3.421,P<.05), "good" (F=-1.728,P<0.01) and "pass"(F=-1.003,P<.05) have lower perceived stress level than the students whose physical health level is "failed". And whose physical health level are "excellent" (F=4.598,P<.01), "good" (F=2.592,P<.01) and "pass" (F=1.859,P=<.01) have better life satisfaction than those whose physical health level is "failed". CONCLUSIONS:Students with better physical health have significantly higher life satisfaction, lower perceived stress and depression. Physical education course plays an active role in regulating the perceived depression of College students.