Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°2, 249-255
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.232 249
I
NFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ANXIETY
OF ADOLESCENTS
Peihua Liu, Nan Yue
*Abstract
The mental health is an important aspect of the healthy growth of adolescents. Therefore, this paper aims to disclose how physical exercise affects the mental health and anxiety of adolescents. A total of 600 students were selected randomly from junior high schools, senior high schools and universities in Changchun, China, and subjected to a questionnaire survey on the physical exercise and mental health of adolescents. With the aid of Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL- 90), the author explored the influence of physical exercise on the mental health and anxiety of adolescents in four aspects: participation in physical exercise, amount of physical exercises, gender difference, and different types of sports. The results show that adolescent males and females have different motivations to participate in physical exercise; most adolescents that participate in physical exercise are on the medium level of participation; the adolescents generally have poor mental health and great anxiety; adolescent males have better mental health than their female counterparts; a suitable amount of physical exercise can promote the mental health and alleviate the anxiety among adolescents; the participation in different types of sports is helpful to the mental health of adolescents. The research findings provide a reference for adolescent mental health education from the perspective of physical exercise.
Key words: Physical Exercise, Adolescents, Mental Health, Anxiety, Influence.
Received: 07-02-19 | Accepted: 13-07-19
INTRODUCTION
With the continuous improvement of the national living standards, the focus of people's attention has gradually shifted from the material life and physical health to mental health. As the future and hope of our country, the adolescents’ mental health and physical quality are directly related to the development of the motherland. Therefore, they have become the focus of educational reform.
Adolescents should be in a carefree stage of growth, but with the demands of families, schools and society for the adolescents increasing gradually, the adolescents have been faced with more academic burdens and emotional barriers, According to surveys (Van
College of Physical Education, Beihua University, Jilin 132021, China.
E-Mail: [email protected]
Raalte, Brewer, Brewer et al., 1993). there are currently 10%-25% adolescents with different levels of mental health problems. As we all know, physical exercise can not only promote people's physical health, but also regulate and release their bad emotions, achieving physical and mental health benefits (Liddle, Deane, & Vella, 2016). The psychology researchers at home and abroad began to study the relationship between physical exercise and mental health as early as the 1960s and 1970s, and especially the interaction between physical exercise and emotions is the most widely studied. The research results show that both the one-time exercise over 30 minutes or regular exercises with a duration of more than 10 months can bring athletes a good emotional benefit (Pesce, Faigenbaum, Crova et al., 2013, Hyunkyun A., et al, 2018, Walaa S.M. et al, 2018). In addition, some scholars have confirmed that physical exercise can promote communication skills,
PEIHUA LIU 250
improve interpersonal relationships, and enhance and maintain good cognitive ability (Gore, Farrell, & Gordon, 2001; Raglin, 2001). Seeman believes that physical exercise can immediately reduce people's anxiety (Craft, Magyar, Becker et al., 2003). Lelth stated that regular physical exercise can alleviate people's anxiety (Smith, Smoll, Cumming et al., 2006). Wang Runping and Zhang Xiaohong studied the mental health status of middle school students in different exercise time, frequency and intensity, and found that the moderate-intensity exercise, appropriate exercise time (about 30 minutes) and frequency (2-4 times per week) can promote the mental health of middle school students (Englert & Bertrams, 2012). Cui Ming found in the study that the SCL-90 factor scores of the students not participating sports were higher than those participating in the physical exercise (De Wolfe, Waliczek, & Zajicek, 2011). Wang Shuming and Zuo Congxian believe that there is a significant interaction between physical exercise and the mental health of middle school students (Doré, O"Loughlin, Beauchamp et al., 2016). In summary, domestic and foreign scholars have attached great importance to the study of physical exercise and students' mental health problems, and achieved a large number of theoretical and practical research results. However, there have been few studies on physical exercise and adolescents’ mental health and anxiety in multiple dimensions (Motallebi & Noorbakhsh, 2010).
Based on the above analysis, taking the adolescents in Changchun as examples, the questionnaire method was used. This paper first analyses the current status of adolescents participating in physical exercise from the aspects of their motivation and exercise amount. Then, the Symptom Checklist (SCL- 90) was adopted to investigate the mental health level of adolescents. Based on the survey results, it further explores the influence of physical exercise on mental health and anxiety of adolescent from four aspects: exercise participation and non-participation, amount of
physical exercise, different genders and different forms of sports.
STATUS SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF
ADOLESCENTS PARTICIPATING IN PHYSICAL EXERCISE
In this paper, a stratified random sampling survey method was used to randomly select 600 students from junior high schools, senior schools and universities in Changchun. A total of 576 valid questionnaires (267 males and 309 females) were recovered, with an effective rate of 96%. The Physical Activity Rating Scale was adopted to investigate the exercise amount of the students, and SPSS 17.0 and Excel were applied to sort and analyse the survey data.
Adolescents’ attitudes about participating in
physical exercise
The adolescent’s attitude to physical exercise is an important psychological part for the dynamic adjustment of sports, which will directly affect their enthusiasm to participate in physical exercise. Table 1 lists the attitudes of the adolescents about participating in physical exercise. It can be seen that nearly 60% of adolescents liked sports, and the proportion of boys who like to participate in physical exercise was much higher than that of girls, 72.28% for boys and 47.9% for girls; 16.15% said they did not like to participate in physical exercise, 10.49% for boys and 27.04% for girls; 24.65% showed disregard for physical exercise, 17.23% for boys and 31.07% for girls.
Adolescents’ motivation to participate in physical exercise
Figure 1 shows the survey results of the motivation for adolescents participating in physical exercise. It can be seen that the main motive for both boys and girls in physical exercise participation is to enhance physical fitness, indicating that today's young people put
Table 1.
Youth participation in physical exercise attitude list
Gender
Attitude
Boy Girl Total
Number of people Proportion Number of people Proportion Number of people Proportion
Like 193 72.28% 148 47.9% 341 59.2%
Dislike 28 10.49% 65 27.04% 93 16.15%
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ANXIETY OF ADOLESCENTS 251
Figure 1
. Motivation for young people to participate in physical exercise
0 20 40 60 80 100
Other Improv
e
athletic ability Overco
me
exam Comm
unicatio n Adjust
emotion Shape
the body Recrea
tional
entertain ment Enha
nce
physica l fitness
Boy Girl
their health first. For girls, body-shaping and communication are also the main motivations for participating in physical exercise; whereas, due to physical and psychological differences, boys treat the entertainment and emotions adjustment as the main motivation for physical exercise, indicating that there are differences in physical exercise motivation between boys and girls.
Figure 2
.
Investigation on the amount of
college students participating in physical
exercise
15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Large amount of exercise Medium
exercise Small amount
of exercise
Boy Girl Overall
Survey on exercise amount of adolescents The amount of physical exercise is calculated according to the formula: intensity×(time-1) × frequency. Figure 2 shows the proportion of students participating in different physical exercise, in which the boys account for the highest proportion of all adolescents in moderate exercise; the girls account for the highest proportion in small-amount of exercise, and the lowest in large amount of exercise.
STATUS SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF
ADOLESCENTS' MENTAL HEALTH
In this paper, the SCL-90 was adopted to investigate the mental health of adolescents, using the 5-level scale system with a score of 0-4. The higher the mental health level, the lower the score, and vice versa.
Detection rate of adolescent psychological problems
Figure 3 shows the statistical results for the detection rate of adolescents' psychological problems. It can be seen from the figure that the detection rate of psychological problems with scores greater than or equal to 2 points was about 44%, in which the percentage of obsessive symptoms was the highest, about 32%, and the percentage of anxiety symptoms was about 15%. The detection rate of psychological problems
PEIHUA LIU 252
Figure 3
. Detection rate of adolescent psychological problems
0 10 20 30 40 50
Total s core
Neuro pathic Paran
oia Fear
Hostil ity Anxie
ty
Depre ssion
relation ship Interpe
rsonal sympto
ms Obsess
ive
Soma tization
Factor score is greater than or equal to 2 points Factor score is greater than or equal to 3 points
greater than or equal to 3 points was about 10%. The survey results indicate that the current mental health problems of adolescents are more prominent, which is related to the age of adolescents and to the learning, parents and social pressures faced by them.
Comparison of mental health levels between different genders of adolescents
Figure 4
.
Comparison of mental health
status of adolescents with different genders
1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8
Total s core Neuro
pathic Paran
oia Fear Hostil
ity Anxie
ty Depre
ssion relatio
nship Interpe
rsona l
sympto ms Obsess
ive
Soma tizatio
n
Boy Girl
Figure 4 shows that among the SCL-90 factors, obsessive symptoms, anxiety and paranoid factors were the top three ones for boys’ mental health, and obsessive symptoms, anxiety and interpersonal relationships were the top three for girls, indicating that obsessive and anxiety are common mental health problems among adolescents; except for the two factors of hostility and paranoia, the scores of the other factors for girls were higher than that of boys, indicating that the mental health of boys is generally greater than girls.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE ON
ADOLESCENTS' MENTAL HEALTH AND ANXIETY Comparison ofmental health levels between different genders of adolescents participating and non-participating in physical exercise
Figure 5 and 6 show the difference of gender in the average scores and the grand average of the SCL-90 factors for the adolescents participating and non-participating in physical exercise. It can be seen that the average score and grand average of the factors of the girls in physical exercise were higher than the boys who participated in physical exercise, indicating that the mental health of boys participating in physical exercise is generally higher than that of
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ANXIETY OF ADOLESCENTS 253
girls, and there is a very significant difference in anxiety factors between the two; the average score and grand average of all factors in the boys participating in physical exercise were higher than those of boys and girls not in physical exercise. From Figure 6, except for interpersonal relationships, anxiety and psychosis, the average scores and grand average of girls who did not participate in physical exercise were higher than those of boys, indicating that boys not participating in physical exercise had better mental health than girls.
Figure 5
.
Gender differences in mental
health of adolescents participating in
physical exercise
1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8Total s core Neuro pathic Paran oia Fear Hostil ity Anxie ty Depre ssion relatio nship Interpe rsona l sympto ms Obsess ive Soma tizatio n
Boys participating in physical exercise Girls participating in physical exercise
Figure 6
.
Gender differences in mental
health of adolescents who do not
participate in physical exercise
1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9
Total s core Neuro pathic Paran oia Fear Hostil ity Anxie ty Depre ssion relatio nship Interpe rsona l sympto ms Obsess ive Soma tizatio n
Boys who do not participate in physical exercise Girls who do not participate in physical exercise
Comparative analysis of mental health levels of adolescents with different exercise amount
Figure 7 shows that among the factors of mental health level, the adolescents with small amount of exercise scored the highest, and except that the adolescents with medium exercise scored higher than those with large amount of exercises in the three factors of somatization, obsessive symptoms and hostility, they scored lower in the other factors; the grand averages of mental health factors at the three levels of exercise amount were ranked from high to low: small amount of exercise, large amount of exercise, and medium amount of exercise, indicating that medium exercise can help promote the mental health of adolescents.
Figure 7
.
Comparative Analysis of Mental
Health Level of Adolescents with Different
Levels of Physical Exercises
1.30 1.35 1.40 1.45 1.50 1.55 1.60 1.65 1.70 1.75 1.80
Total s core Neuro pathic Paran oia Fear Hostil ity Anxie ty Depre ssion relatio nship Interpe rsona l sym ptoms Obsess ive Soma tizatio n
Small amount of exercise Medium exercise Large amount of exercise
Comparison of mental health level of adolescents participating in physical exercise at different frequencies
Figure 8 shows that the average score and grand average score of the SCL-90 factors of the adolescents who often participated in physical exercise were the lowest, those who did not participate in physical exercise was the highest, and those occasionally participating ranked second. The T test results show that there are significant differences between the three, indicating that the mental health of adolescents who often participate in physical exercise is better than those who occasionally participate or do not participate in physical exercise. Thus, appropriate physical exercise can play a certain
PEIHUA LIU 254
role in promoting the mental health of adolescents.
Figure 8
.
Comparison of mental health
status of adolescents participating in
different sports frequencies
1.30 1.35 1.40 1.45 1.50 1.55 1.60 1.65 1.70 1.75 1.80
Total s core Neuro
pathic Paran
oia Fear Hostil
ity Anxie
ty Depre
ssion relatio
nship Interpe
rsona l
sympto ms Obsess
ive Soma
tizatio n
Often participate Occasionally participate Not attending
Comparison of mental health levels of adolescents with different forms of sports
Figure 9 compares the mental health of adolescents in individual and collective forms. It can be seen from the figure that the average scores and grand average of SCL-90 factors in adolescents using collective forms were lower than those in individual form, indicating that the sports in collective form have a positive effect on adolescent mental health.
Figure 9
.
Comparison of mental health
status of adolescents with different forms of
physical exercise
1.30 1.35 1.40 1.45 1.50 1.55 1.60 1.65 1.70 1.75 1.80
Total s core Neuro
pathic Paran
oia Fear Hostil
ity Anxie
ty Depre
ssion relatio
nship Interpe
rsona l
sympto ms Obsess
ive Soma
tizatio n
Collective form Personal form
CONCLUSIONS
Good mental health and physical fitness are very important for the healthy growth of adolescents. This paper attempts to study the influence of physical exercise on adolescents' mental health and anxiety. The specific conclusions are as follows:
(1) The survey results of the adolescents’ physical exercise status show that enhancing physical fitness is the main motivation for the adolescents to participate in physical exercise, and because of the different physical and psychological characteristics, there are certain differences in the motivations of boy and girl students to participate in physical exercise, and the proportion of students participating in medium physical exercises is highest; (2) The survey results of adolescents' mental
health status show that there are generally mental health problems among adolescents, and the obsessive symptoms and anxiety are more prominent; the mental health of boys is generally higher than that of girls;
(3) The mental health level of adolescents participating in physical exercise is significantly higher than those who do not participate in physical exercise; the mental health of boys participating in physical exercise is higher than that of girls. The appropriate amount of physical exercise can promote the mental health of adolescents and alleviate their anxiety of adolescents. The collective form of physical exercise is good for the mental health of the adolescents.
Acknowledgement
Social Science Project of Jilin Province Education Department in 13th Five-Year (No. JJKH20180395SK), Humanities and Social Sciences project of Beihua University (No. 2018LZ001) ，The Project of Beihua University: Effect of High-intensity Training on Mental Health of Athletes (No. 20190220) and the Program for Promotion of Young Teachers in Beihua University.
REFERENCES
Craft, L. L., Magyar, T. M., Becker, B. J., & Feltz, D. L. (2003). The relationship between the competitive state anxiety inventory-2 and sport
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ANXIETY OF ADOLESCENTS 255
performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 25(1), 44-65.
De Wolfe, J., Waliczek, T. M., & Zajicek, J. M. (2011). The relationship between levels of greenery and landscaping at track and field sites, anxiety, and sports performance of collegiate track and field athletes. HortTechnology, 21(3), 329-335. Doré, I., O"Loughlin, J. L., Beauchamp, G., Martineau,
M., & Fournier, L. (2016). Volume and social context of physical activity in association to mental health, anxiety and depression among youth. Preventive Medicine, 91, 344-350. Englert, C., & Bertrams, A. (2012). Anxiety, ego
depletion, and sports performance. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 34(5), 580-599. Gore, S., Farrell, F., & Gordon, J. (2001). Sports
involvement as protection against depressed mood. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11(1),
119-130.
Hyunwoo, K., Seyong, J. (2018), Effects of competition anxiety on self-confidence in soccer players: modulation effects of home and away games, Journal of Mens Health, 14(3), e62-e68. Hyunkyun A., Wi-Young So (2018), Evaluation of the
differences of household income and physical fitness variables in elderly Koreans, Journal of Mens Health, 14(3), e41-e48.
Liddle, S. K., Deane, F. P., & Vella, S. A. (2017).
Addressing mental health through sport: A review of sporting organizations' websites. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 11(2), 93-103. Motallebi, L., & Noorbakhsh, M. (2010). Study the
effect of participation in physical activity on mental health. British Journal of Sports Medicine,
44(Suppl_1), i60-i60.
Pesce, C., Faigenbaum, A., Crova, C., Marchetti, R., & Bellucci, M. (2013). Benefits of multi-sports physical education in the elementary school context. Health Education Journal, 72(3), 326-336.
Raglin, J. S. (2001). Psychological factors in sport performance. Sports Medicine, 31(12), 875-890. Smith, R. E., Smoll, F. L., Cumming, S. P., & Grossbard,
J. R. (2006). Measurement of multidimensional sport performance anxiety in children and adults: The sport anxiety scale-2. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 28(4), 479-501.
Van Raalte, J. L., Brewer, D. D., Brewer, B. W., & Linder, D. E. (1993). Sport psychologists’ perceptions of sport and mental health practitioners. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 5(2), 222-233.
Walaa S.M., Walaa M.E. (2018),
Abdominal/adductor strength imbalance in soccer players with osteitis pubis, Journal of Mens Health, 14(3), e33-e40.
