Physical activity participation of university students in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Every year more than 2.38 million students attend university in the United Kingdom. However, there is limited research up to this date addressing current physical activity participation of the university students in the United Kingdom. This study explored the current physical activity habits among students studying at university level in the United Kingdom. An online survey was administered and completed by 466 students from over 52 faculties. Participants answered questions on demographic variables such as gender, age, socioeconomic status of family, location of studies, types of studies, year of studies, living arrangements and monthly expenditure. They were provided the English version of the IPAQ-Short form and asked to fill out the questionnaire with their physical activity habits during a typical week of university study. Results identified 64.4% of the sample were “moderate” active, with 14.2% “high” and 18.5% “low” active as categorized by the IPAQ-Short form scoring. Disparities in physical activity participation were present on demographic variables such as gender, year of study and family socioeconomic level upon analysis by ANOVA. To conclude, a discussion of the results within the overall field of physical activity participation in higher education was positioned and critiqued.