The Effect of Physical Activity on Depression, Anxiety and Marital Satisfaction of Police Personnel

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Physical activity is highly salient in improving the mental health of people in the community, and it has a great impact on improving the mental health of the population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of physical activity on depression, anxiety and marital satisfaction of police personnel. Methods: In this scientific comparative study, 120 employees of the police station of Marvdasht city were selected based on Morgan’s table. The data collection tools included a physical activity questionnaire, beck depression inventory, beck Anxiety inventory and enrich marital satisfaction inventory. To analyze the data, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with LSD post hoc tests were used (P ≤ 0.05). Results: There was no significant difference in marital satisfaction (P = 0.10) and anxiety (P = 0.27) among the high physical activity, moderate physical activity and low physical activity groups. However, the level of depression was significantly lower in the high physical activity and moderate physical activity groups compared to those with low physical activity (P = 0.008 and P = 0.03, respectively), and there was no significant difference in the severity of depression among the personnel with high and moderate physical activity (P = 0.30). Also, there was a significant correlation between physical activity and depression (P = 0.03) among the police personnel. However, there was no significant correlation between the level of physical activity and anxiety and marital satisfaction in the police personnel. Conclusions: It seems that the level of depression in police personnel with high and moderate physical activity is lower than those with low physical activity.