Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1039-1044
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.146 1039
P
HYSICAL
E
XERCISE
I
NTERVENTION ON
M
ENTAL
H
EALTH AND
N
EGATIVE
E
MOTIONS OF
C
OLLEGE
S
TUDENTS
GuoJie Ma
*Abstract
Many college students are faced with mental health problems under the intensified competition in modern society. From the angle of physical exercise, this paper attempts to study the mental health of college students and develop a suitable strategy to cope with negative emotions. A three-week physical exercise intervention was implemented for college students with certain mental health problems. The changes of negative emotions through the intervention were captured and analysed to reflect how physical exercise affects the mental health of college students. The results show that negative emotions are prevalent among college students; the physical exercise can ease the negative emotions to a certain extent; antagonistic and non-antagonistic physical exercises differ in their intervention effects on different psychological problems. The research results enrich the theories on the mental health of college students and provide a guide for relieving their negative emotions.
Key words: College Students, Mental Health, Physical Exercise, Antagonistic, Non-Antagonistic.
Received: 10-03-19 | Accepted: 15-10-19
INTRODUCTION
Mental health issues have always attracted the extensive attention of the society and domestic and foreign scholars (Richardson, Abraham, & Bond, 2012). The survey shows that college students have high mental health risks, both at home and abroad, and the incidence of mental health problems ranges from 15% to 35% (Hassmén, Koivula, & Uutela, 2000; Ibrahim, Kelly, Adams et al., 2013). Without enough attention, or effective comfort and help, it may lead to more serious psychological problems (Tang, Byrne, & Qin, 2018).
American scholar Henwood, Derejko, Couture et al. (2015) believes that people who know themselves and give full play to their natural instinct are mentally healthy ones, and they can fully understand all potential of human beings
Pingdingshan University, Pingdingshan 467000, China. E-Mail: [email protected]
and constantly adapt to the environment for growing-up (Cheng, Tsui, & Lam, 2015). Prat & Adan (2013) thinks that mentally healthy people present a near-perfect state of all their mental activities, including normal cognition, emotional coordination and good adaptability. In summary, it’s believed in this study that the so-called mental health, not only refers to physical health, no disease and defects, but also emphasizes the inner positive and healthy mentality and good mood (Taylor, Clay, Bramoweth et al., 2009), so as to better adapt to social environment (Oldervoll, Kaasa, Hjermstad et al., 2004; Mota-Pereira, Silverio, Carvalho et al., 2011).
Nowadays, physical exercises play an increasingly important role in our daily lives, and many scholars Have, de Graaf, & Monshouwer et al. (2011) begun to focus on the positive impact of physical exercises on people's mental health. Previously, many experts and scholars at home and abroad studied the relationship between physical exercises and mental health, concluding that physical exercises can not only promote people's health and amuse their mind
GUOJIE MA 1040
and body, but also effectively improve their mental health (Cole, 2010). A large number of empirical studies have shown that the frequency, intensity and manner of students participating in sports training are closely related to students' mental health (Biddle & Asare, 2011).
Therefore, this paper attempts to study whether physical exercises can effectively improve college students' mental health problems, suppress negative emotions, and enhance their optimistic attitudes. It’s expected to provide a theoretical basis for non-medical treatment of the college students’ mental health problems.
RESEARCH OBJECTS AND METHODS
Research purposes and significance
The purpose of the study is to find out the factors affecting the mental health of college students, and to improve their mental health through the intervention of physical exercises.
Research significance: it provides a theoretical basis for physical exercises to improve the mental health of college students; meanwhile, through different forms of physical exercise intervention, students can find their favorite sports and develop the habit of physical exercise, so as to lay a basis for lifelong physical exercise.
Research methods:
(1) Questionnaire survey. The questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the mental health status of college students;
(2) Symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90). The SCL-90 scale was used to evaluate the psychological status before and after the experiment. Because of its simplicity, practicality, and wide application in mental health measurement and psychological counselling, it has been a popular mental health evaluation scale in China. Such scale has been revised by relevant domestic experts, and recognized as a tool that can more accurately reflect the psychological symptoms of the subjects (Miller, Omidian, Quraishy et al., 2010). Its validity coefficient is between 0.80 and 0.95, indicating high reliability and validity. It is suitable for mentally healthy subjects with a medium or higher level of education, especially for college students. SCL-90 scale has a total of 90 topics, including nine factors of mental health such as somatization, obsessive-compulsive behavior, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, depression, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, which can basically cover various standards of mental health (Kim & Jang, 2016). Among them, the size of each factor is
the main indicator to assess the mental health of the subjects. The factor score is categorized into 5 levels: the larger the value, the more serious the problem. It is generally believed that as long as one factor scores is more than 3 points, the subject may have moderate or severe psychological problems;
(3) Mathematical statistics. The T test with two samples were conducted before and after the experiment; paired T test was used to test the control group and experimental group before and after the experiment; all data was processed using SPSS statistical software.
Technical routes and objects of research The technical route of the research is shown in Figure 1. The SCL-90 scale was used as a measurement tool for the mental health of college students. 650 questionnaires were randomly distributed to college students, and 621 valid questionnaires were collected, with a recovery rate of 95.5%. Table 1 lists the results of data statistical analysis.
It can be seen from Table 1 above that the mean scores of the two factors such as somatization and anxiety symptoms for the students in this normal college were significantly higher than the national standards. This may be because most of the students in the normal college are thrifty, making them have a low and negative evaluation of themselves, and then cause anxiety in their lives. Whereas, the average scores of hostility and phobic anxiety symptoms for the college students were significantly lower than the national standards, because the teachers with the higher comprehensive quality in the college hold the mentality of serving the society wholeheartedly, and the students’ hostile mood will naturally decrease; also, most of the students in this college have signed a contract with the county education bureau; they do not need to pay tuition fees, and they have certain subsidies every month; after graduation, they only need to go back to their own county with no employment pressure, so they’ll have less phobic anxiety.
In order to test whether physical exercises can effectively improve the mental health problems of college students and suppress negative emotions, 100 college students were selected by means of voluntary registration. All of the subjects were from the same college, aged between 18-24, with the similar living conditions and habits. Before the experiment, interviews and surveys were conducted on the subjects' diet and lifestyle to ensure no significance differences during the experiment.
PHYSICAL EXERCISE INTERVENTION ON MENTAL HEALTH AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 1041
into an antagonistic physical exercise group and a non-antagonistic physical exercise group. The experimental group, in addition to two physical exercises per week arranged by the college, also need to participate in two more per week according to the experimental design, while the control group only needs to participate in two arranged by the college. Table 2 shows grouping of the experimental group and the control group.
The amount of exercise consists of exercise
intensity, time and frequency, as shown in equation (1).
* *
E=I T F (1)
where, E is the amount of exercise, I is the intensity of exercise, T is the time of exercise, and F is the frequency of exercise.
Figure 1
.
Technical route
12 Weeks Physical Exercise Intervention
Questi onnaires were sent out t o coll ect the ment al heal th st at us
Choosing col lege st udents with certain psychological problems and i nterveni ng in
physical exercise
Divided into experi mental group and control group
Pre-experi ment Physical Exercise Interventi on Group Pre-experi ment cont rol group
After-experi ment Physical Exercise Interventi on Group After-experi ment cont rol group
Statist ical anal ysis of dat a
The mental healt h indi cat ors before and aft er the experi ment were compared and analyzed
Table 1.
Comparison of mental health level before intervention and national standard
Factor National Standards Test students Value of |U| Value of P
Somatization 1.35±0.42 1.61±0.54 4.695 0.046＊
Obsessive-compulsive symptoms 1.71±0.62 1.74±0.59 0.686 0.268 Interpersonal sensitivity 1.83±0.64 1.76±0.51 2.497 0.073 Depressed 1.54±0.66 1.71±0.68 2.696 0.071 Anxious 1.41±0.52 1.69±0.65 4.986 0.039＊
Hostile 1.79±0.67 1.45±0.66 3.794 0.046＊
Terror 1.82±0.55 1.32±0.57 4.555 0.045＊
Paranoia 1.47±0.59 1.56±0.72 2.876 0.067 Psychotic 1.41±0.49 1.37±0.52 2.556 0.071
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Table 2. Grouping of experimental objects
Group Gender Number Type of Exercise Content of Exercise
Antagonistic physical exercise group
Male 25 Antagonistic physical exercise Football, badminton, table tennis Female 25 Non-antagonistic physical Football, badminton, table tennis Non-antagonistic
physical exercise group
Male 25 Antagonistic physical exercise Aerobics, jogging, Yoga Female 25 Non-antagonistic physical Aerobics, jogging, Yoga
Control group Male 25 Non Non
Female 25 Non Non
Table 3. psychological status of college students before and after experiment
Name
Antagonistic physical exercise group Non-antagonistic physical exercise
group Control group
P Pre-experiment After experiment Pre-experiment After experiment Pre-experiment After
experiment Somatization 2.21±1.46 1.41±0.41 2.05±1.42 1.61±0.51 2.14±1.45 1.75±0.83 0.045 Obsessive-compulsive
symptoms 2.82±1.63 1.46±0.58 2.88±1.66 1.89±0.87 2.53±1.59 2.23±1.17 0.014 Interpersonal
sensitivity 3.42±1.53 1.83±0.48 3.43±1.56 1.69±0.48 3.83±1.51 2.74±1.18 0.042 Depressed 3.51±1.54 2.46±0.65 3.56±1.58 1.71±0.69 3.56±1.72 2.23±0.65 0.007 Anxious 3.19±1.68 1.49±0.57 3.11±1.68 1.36±0.55 3.36±1.77 2.46±1.07 0.026 Hostile 2.34±1.67 1.65±0.73 2.31±1.65 1.14±0.58 2.68±1.70 1.72±0.98 0.028 Terror 3.31±1.69 1.62±0.94 3.36±1.73 1.17±0.65 3.43±1.70 1.83±1.04 0.016 Paranoia 2.46±1.67 1.41±0.65 2.32±1.65 1.84±0.89 2.72±1.64 1.98±0.96 0.026 Psychotic 1.81±1.53 1.31±0.48 1.96±1.57 1.23±0.46 2.08±1.47 1.64±0.97 0.042
ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTION RESULTS
Comparison of college students’ psychological
status before and after physical exercise intervention
Table 3 shows the psychological status of college students before and after physical exercise intervention. It can be seen from Table 3 that the intervention of antagonistic physical exercise can effectively alleviate the somatization, obsessive-compulsive behavior and paranoia of college students, and the intervention of non-antagonistic physical exercise can better relieve the psychological problems of college students such as interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety and depression, hostility and phobic anxiety.
Intervention effects of different physical exercises
Figure 2 shows the intervention effect of different physical exercises, which indicates.
(1) The intervention of antagonistic physical exercise can relieve obsessive-compulsive behavior and paranoia, because the antagonistic physical exercise can mobilize the students' enthusiasm, release their internal pressure and negative emotions, and better meet their internal needs;
Figure 2
.
Comparison of intervention effects
between different physical exercises
(2) The intervention of non-antagonistic physical exercise has a good effect on relieving the factors such as hostility, depression and phobic anxiety, because the non-antagonistic physical exercises such as yoga and aerobics, has a relaxed and active form of activity, and under the guidance
Dep resse
d Anx
ious Host
ile Terr
or Para
noia Psy
chot ic
Som atizat
ion
Obse ssive
-com pulsi
ve sy mpt
oms
Inte rper
sona l sensi
tivity 0.0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Antagonistic physical exercise Non-antagonistic physical exercise
PHYSICAL EXERCISE INTERVENTION ON MENTAL HEALTH AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 1043
of the teacher, aerobic exercise accompanied by music can create a harmonious and comfortable atmosphere. Such non-intense competition and antagonism naturally improves their emotions of hostility, frustration and terror.
Experimental results of physical exercise on college students' depression factor
Further, 60 students in moderate and mild depression were selected and grouped, in order to explore the therapeutic effects of different physical exercise methods on moderate and mild depression college students, as shown in Table 4. Among them, the two experimental groups performed three times of moderate-intensity antagonistic and non-antagonistic physical exercises each week.
Table 5 lists the experimental results. Table 5 shows that the total score of SDS in the control group was 51.72±5.58, that in the antagonistic physical exercise group was 50.18±8.42, and that in the non-antagonistic physical exercise group was 50.63±7.42, indicating that the subjects of the three groups are in a homogenous state.
After exercise intervention, there were significant differences in the scores between the three groups of subjects (P<0.05). Among them, compared with the control group, the SDS total score, psychological emotional state and physical disorder of the antagonistic physical exercise group and the non-antagonistic physical exercise group
were significantly different (P<0.05); the reduction of psychomotor disorder and depression in the antagonistic exercise group was significantly lower than that in the non-antagonistic group (P<0.05).
Therefore, the above findings indicate that: (1) Physical exercises can effectively improve the moderate and mild depression of college students.
(2) In terms of relieving depression, the experimental group was superior to the control group. The reason may be that physical exercise provides participants with opportunities to experience smoothness, pleasure and comfort in activities and then suppress depression; meanwhile, participants can effectively disperse or transfer depression in physical activity, thereby improving mental health; finally, physical training can also release some negative emotions and excess energy to adjust the mood.
(3) In terms of relieving depression, the antagonistic physical exercise is not as good as non- antagonistic physical exercise. The reason may be that in the antagonistic physical exercise, the performance of teammates and their status, state, external weather venues, wins and losses in the course of physical exercise, etc., can easily cause the participants to generate some negative emotions; for the non-antagonistic physical exercise such as yoga in the light and pleasant form of activity, there is no competition and confrontation during exercise, which can better cure moderate and mild depression.
Table 4. Grouping of experimental objects
Group Gender Number Type of Exercise Content of Exercise
Antagonistic physical exercise group
Male 4 Antagonistic physical exercise Football, badminton, table tennis Female 11 Non-antagonistic physical Football, badminton, table tennis Non-antagonistic physical
exercise group
Male 5 Antagonistic physical exercise Aerobics, jogging, Yoga Female 10 Non-antagonistic physical Aerobics, jogging, Yoga
Control group Male 3 Non Non
Female 12 Non Non
Table 5.
Analysis of variance for repeated measurement of depression levels in different groups
before and after the experiment
Name
Antagonistic physical exercise
Non-antagonistic physical
exercise Control group
P
Pre-experiment
After experiment
Pre-experiment
After experiment
Pre-experiment
After experiment SDS 51.72±5.58 49.08±2.95 50.18±8.42 35.24±4.52 50.63±7.42 29.36±5.09 <0.05 Psych affective disorder 4.82±1.31 4.71±1.27 4.53±1.35 2.91±1.08 4.56±1.08 2.26±0.57 <0.05 Somatic disorder 19.46±2.72 18.68±2.49 19.06±3.37 13.23±2.56 18.73±4.86 11.55±2.57 <0.05 Psychomotor disorder 5.51±0.97 5.32±1.04 5.53±1.27 3.62±1.25 5.37±1.19 3.05±1.16 <0.05 Psychological disorders of
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CONCLUSIONS
According to the current status of college students' mental health, this paper proposes to alleviate the negative emotions of college students using the physical exercise, and draws the following conclusions:
(1) At present, college students generally have certain psychological and negative emotions, which requires enough attention from the society and timely measures to promote the mental health development of college students. (2) After the intervention of physical exercise, the mental health level of college students can be effectively improved.
(3) The intervention effect of antagonistic physical exercises on somatization, obsessive-compulsive behaviour, depression and paranoid factors is better than non-antagonistic physical exercises; the intervention effect of non-antagonistic physical exercises is better on the psychological problems such as interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, and psychoticism.
(4) Physical exercise intervention has a significant effect on improving mild and moderate depression in college students, and the effect of non-antagonistic physical exercises intervention is more significant.
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