Physical Activity, Mental and Personal Well-Being, Social Isolation, and Perceptions of Academic Attainment and Employability in University Students: The Scottish and British Active Students Surveys

Abstract

Background: Physical activity (PA) promotes health and well-being. For students, university represents a transitional period, including increased independence over lifestyle behaviors, in addition to new stressors and barriers to engaging in PA. It is, therefore, important to monitor PA trends in students to gain a greater understanding about the role it might play in physical and mental well-being, as well as other factors, such as attainment and employability. Methods: Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2016 in Scottish universities and colleges, and in 2017 in universities and colleges across the United Kingdom, and the data were pooled for the present study (N = 11,650). Cumulative ordinal logistic regression was used to model the association between PA levels and mental and personal well-being, social isolation, and perceptions of academic attainment and employability. Results: Only 51% of the respondents met the recommended levels of moderate to vigorous PA per week. There was a linear relationship between PA levels and all outcomes, with better scores in more active students. Conclusions: UK university students are insufficiently active compared with the general population of 16- to 24-year olds. Yet, students with higher PA report better outcomes for mental and personal well-being, social isolation, and perceptions of academic attainment and employability.

Is Achieving the Guidelines of Four Forms of Physical Activity Associated with Less Self-Reported Health Complaints? Cross-Sectional Study of Undergraduates at the University of Turku, Finland

“…Such regression findings represent strong evidence of the “net” positive effects of PA on HCs. Our findings agree with others where, among undergraduate university students, hierarchical regression showed that strenuous PA participation predicted the number of health complaints [ 73 ]; and in the UK, students with higher PA reported better outcomes for mental and personal well-being [ 25 ]. Among university students in China, after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, physical health and physical activity, binary logistic regression analysis showed that the total sedentary time were significantly associated with depression [ 74 ].…”

“…Among university students, 28.4% of the sample were sedentary individuals and 23.6% insufficiently active [ 23 ]; and undergraduate students did not engage in adequate PA [ 24 ]. Similarly, in the UK, only 51% of the respondents met the recommended levels of moderate to vigorous PA per week, and UK university students were insufficiently active compared with the general population of 16–24 year olds [ 25 ]. This is despite that PA and exercise could prevent a range of conditions that include neuromuscular diseases, respiratory, orthopedic, noncommunicable diseases and others [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]; and aerobic exercise could improve and treat primary dysmenorrhea [ 30 ].…”

Impact of online education on fear of academic delay and psychological distress among university students following one year of COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh

“…[ 31 ] reported that the public university students were 46% more likely unable to attend online class than the private university students (70% vs. 24%) due to limited internet access and unaffordability. Besides, lack of friend/social support, physical inactivity, relationship break-up with family and batchmates, vulnerable study conditions, social isolation, loneliness, and so on also worsened the fear and subsequent psychological distress among the university students in Bangladesh [ 53 , 54 , 55 ]. Although the χ 2 test traced the potential association of education level with the severity of psychological distress, the current multivariate analysis endorsed no significant relationships among the variables ( p > 0.05).…”

Reliability and validity of the electronic version of the short questionnaire to assess health-enhancing physical activity (E-SQUASH)

“…Indeed, these two seasons influence physical activity [4,5]. We recruited university students because young adults are likely to be familiar with using devices such as smartphones to access webpages as well as importance of physical activity in this generation [13].…”