The Effect of Sport on Students’ Health and Emotional Adjustment in the Corona Virus Pandemic

Abstract

Background and Aims The COVID-19 virus is a large group of viruses identified as a public health crisis and has challenged people worldwide. The epidemic of respiratory infectious disease and quarantine, limitations, stress, and other effects of this disease have affected the health, mental well-being, and emotional adjustment of all age groups. This study aimed to investigate the effect of sport on the health and emotional adjustment of students of universities in Qazvin province during the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Methods This research method was applied, presented, and described in this area. The statistical population included students of Qazvin province who, according to Cochran’s formula, 382 students participated in this study by cluster sampling. The research tools included demographic questions and the Bell Adjustment Inventory questionnaire, which used two dimensions of Emotional and Health Adjustment with acceptable reliability. Data were analyzed in descriptive and inferential statistics sections, and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, t-test, two independent samples, and Leuven test were used. Results The t-test of two independent samples and Leuven showed that sport significantly affected students’ health adjustment (P≤0.05). Regarding the variable of emotional adjustment, it was found that sports activities significantly affect the emotional adjustment of the statistical population (P≤0.05). The means of both health and emotional adjustment variables for the two groups (with and without sports history) were significantly different, and this difference was statistically significant (P≤0.05). Conclusion The results showed that sport improved the emotional and health adjustment of the students studied in this research. In other words, people with a history of sport could use more adaptive methods to deal with the problems caused by the CPVID-19 pandemic because sport contributes to physical and mental health. Thus, universities can use the benefits of promoting sport and physical activities to improve the adjustment of their students at different times as well as very new, unknown, and even exhausting crises or situations.