EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ON THE POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND THE MENTAL HEALTH OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

(1)

Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1162-1168

DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.166 1162

EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ON THE POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN

PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND THE MENTAL HEALTH OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

Lina Zhao

1

_{, Guolong Li}

2

_{, Jianjun Wu}

3

_{, Qinru Si}

4

_*

Abstract

Physical exercise has been widely adopted to relieve mental stress and keep a happy mood. This paper mainly explores the positive impact of physical exercise on the mental health of college students. First, a questionnaire survey based on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was conducted among college students. The collected data were analysed on SPSS20.0 to identify the correlation between physical exercise and mental health in the four dimensions of cognition, emotion, personality and adaptation to environment. Next, a 12-week follow-up test of physical exercise was conducted, focusing on exercise intensity, frequency, form, and mode. The results show that physical exercise can significantly improve the mental health of college students; the sensitivity index of highly sensitive students was improved by 28.9% through physical exercise; the most effective form of physical exercise that promote mental health include walking and swimming. The research findings lay the basis for the implementation of mental health education based on physical exercises.

Key words: Questionnaire Survey, Sensitivity Index, Physical Exercise, Mental Health, Intervention.

Received: 10-02-19 | Accepted: 20-07-19

INTRODUCTION

College students are the main forces in the development of reserve talents for today's society (Wan, Gao, & Xu, 2012). With the rapid development of society, as well as the

acceleration of social intelligence and

industrialization, the college students have been faced with more severe employment situation, competitive pressures, and emotional stress in a

more diversified and complicated way

(Eisenberg, Hunt, Speer et al., 2011). Their psychological enduring capacity has also gradually increased, easily leading to high psychological stress and bad emotions, which may produce great impact on people's mental

1_{Yong in University Yong in Gyeonggi do 449714, Korea.}

2_{Harbin Sport University, Harbin 150008, China.}3_Shandong

Shangdexing Sports Development Co., Ltd. Tengzhou 277500,

China. 4_{Southwest Medical University Institute of Physical}

Education, Luzhou 646000, China. E-Mail: [email protected]

state over time (Griggs, 2017; Saxena, Ommeren, Tang et al., 2009). Mental health of college students is a key factor affecting whether they can effectively integrate into society (Torres, Otero, Bustamante et al., 2017). But the

literature data about the interpersonal

communication of college students' mental health indicates that the number of students with moderate interpersonal disabilities is 22.1%, and that with severe interpersonal disabilities is 11.7% (Tillmann, Tobin, Avison et al., 2018). Meanwhile, the mental illness caused by mental health brings a rising social problem to a certain extent. Chinese juvenile delinquency statistics show that (Jakobsen, Sundstrup, Brandt et al., 2017) nearly 72.3% of respondents have varying degrees of mental defects in the follow-up investigation on juvenile delinquents. The communication disorder of college students is likely to lead to depression and difficulty in integrating into society, which seriously restricts their communication ability (Yeh, Stone, Churchill

(2)

LINA ZHAO,ERFEI ZUO,JIANJUN WU,QINRU SI

1163

et al, 2018), especially for sensitive college students. Thus, the mental health of college students is the research focus of many scholars at home and abroad who have analysed the root causes, reasons and influencing factors of psychological problems from different levels. However, it has been rarely studied on how to effectively promote the mental health by a certain aspect of improvement. In literature (Muto, Hayes, & Jeffcoat, 2017; Pickard, Rodriguez, & Lewis et al., 2017), it’s proposed to improve mental health problems through music, and the implementation methods were also given, but no more studies on the psychological

barriers due to lack of personality

communication (Brown, Perrino, Lombard et al., 2018). As an effective means to enhance the physical health and relieve tension, physical exercise can directly affect the human body (Musich, Wang, Hawkins et al., 2016). It can promote the secretion of adrenaline and dopamine, and stimulate people's sympathetic nerves, so as to enhance physical fitness, promote the health state, and release emotional stress.

Based on the related literatures, this paper aims to study the positive effects of physical exercises on the students with psychological problems using the survey analysis. It also introduces the factors affecting mental health and the exercising methods. Finally, the intervention test was conducted to discuss about the improvement effects.

SURVEY ANALYSIS AND SENSITIVITY INDEX

The survey analysis method means to collect and understand the detailed data of the research object by means of field interview, questioning and investigation, and statistical analysis (Blanco, Okuda, Wright et al., 2009). This method is often used to detect, describe or interpret a particular social identity or social imaginary. Besides, the basic steps of sampling can be adopted for the survey analysis, by taking the individuals as the unit of analysis to

understand the relevant information of

respondents through questionnaires, interviews, etc., and then analyse them (Byrd, & Mckinney, 2012). In this paper, the personality traits of sensitive college students were taken as the

research objects. Based on this, the

questionnaires were designed in the form of questions to calculate the sensitivity index.

The sensitivity index of personality is based on the way in which the respondents judge the specific events and problems (Have, Graaf, & Monshouwer, 2011). Using the key evaluation indicators, it evaluates the traits of personality and balance the personality index of a specific group combined with statistical methods such as statistics, probability theory and regression analysis. This index is calculated according to a certain regularity. In addition, each question was given a qualitative value, and the questions surveyed was summed in the form of a set, so that the calculated value can be used to qualitatively analyse the sensitivity index of the respondents. The sensitivity index is calculated as:

(

)

n n

i

i 1 i 1

EF N ef N (ai) N C /P ii ( 1.2.3 n)

= =

=  =



=



= 

(1) FR=(PW+EF)×(1-δ) (2)

SURVEY RESULTS ON PROMOTING EFFECT OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE ON MENTAL HEALTH

Survey methods and results

In this paper, the students of ordinary colleges and universities in Guangzhou were selected as the respondents. A total of 1,436 questionnaires were distributed and 1,298 were valid questionnaires. The survey mainly includes the form, frequency, duration and content of physical exercise. With reference to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) professional personality test method, a number of survey questions were designed, to investigate the personality traits and character orientation in

interpersonal communication of the

respondents. Besides, their personality index was measured through MBTI formula, and EXCEL and SPSS20.0 statistical software was used to make statistics, collection, and correlation analysis for the survey data from the collected questionnaires. Based on the analysis results, the sensitive students were selected, and several questions were set up for communication with these students according to the suggestions of the consultant. After their consent, the intervention tests of physical exercise were conducted. Then the test results were compared

with the college students with good

interpersonal communication, so as to obtain the results. Table 1 lists the basic information statistics of the respondents.

(3)

EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ON THE POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND THE MENTAL HEALTH OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 1164

Table 1.

Basic information statistics of respondents

Category Frequency Percentage Effective percentage

Gender Boy 62.5% 32.6% 0.85

Girl 37.5% 27.1% 0.96

Education

College 28.7% 38.2% 0.83

Undergraduate 40.8% 34.8% 0.78

Master 22.9% 29.3% 0.91

Doctor 7.6% 11.6% 0.92

Major

Neo Confucianism 19.9% 12.7% 0.78

Engineering 25.5% 22.1% 0.86

Management category 24.9% 22.3% 0.82

Literature 15.9% 18.9% 0.85

Arts 8.9% 7.9%

Sports Major 5.9% 11.9%

Figure 1

.

Relation Diagram of Physical Exercise and Mental Health Dimensions of College

Students

physical

exercise Mental health

Cognition

emotion

personality

Adapt

0.14 0.09

0.11 0.08

0.31

0.09 0.09

0.14

Based on the statistical data in Table 1 and the problem analysis in the questionnaire, the regression analysis was carried out by SPSS20.0 statistical software, to obtain the correlation between physical exercise and mental health in the four dimensions of cognition, emotion, personality and adaptation to environment. The analysis results are shown in Figure 1.

The regression analysis based on the survey data in Figure 1 shows that physical exercise is positively correlated with the mental health, and the mental health index and the mental health dimension also tend to be positively correlated. Therefore, the survey data of Table 1 and Figure 1 indicate that physical exercise is conducive to the improvement of college students' mental health. Based on this, the questions in the questionnaires were designed to investigate the

students with good interpersonal

communication and the respondents with sensitive personality. Then, the comparison was made for the data of these two groups of

students. According to the calculation method of equation (1), the comparison results were obtained as shown in Table 2. Accordingly, the trend analysis of the relevant personality traits was conducted (Figure 2).

Table 2 and Figure 2 show that the personality indexes of college students with sensitivity and good interpersonal relationship are quite different, mainly manifested in different degrees of personality disorder of the

sensitive students when dealing with

interpersonal relationships, as well as varying degrees of impatience, uneasiness, and solitude in terms of personality traits. According to the survey results and formula, for both two groups of students, physical exercise has a certain role in promoting psychological stress and health, which all reflects that their experience of physical exercise has a certain promoting effect on the psychological activities and social communication of the students in different degrees.

(4)

1165

Figure 2

.

Contrast index chart of different

personality traits of respondents

Interpersonal relationshipForce anxious depressed terror Paranoia hostile SluggishMental abnormality 1.0

1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0

Equil

ibr

ium

i

nde

x

Personality Category

sensitivey before sensitivey after good relationship before good relationship after

Comparison and analysis of results before and after the intervention test

In view of the limitations of the designed survey questionnaires, 30 college students with different degrees of personality sensitivities and 30 college students with good interpersonal communication were screened with their consent. Combined with the psychological

counsellor’s suggestion, a 12-week follow-up survey of physical exercise was conducted, focusing on four dimensions of exercise intensity, frequency, form, and mode. The difference between the two groups

(personality-sensitive college students and good

interpersonal college students) was shown in Table 3. The test results of sensitive college students before and after the intervention are shown in Table 4.

Figure 3

.

Effect of Physical Exercise Intensity

on Mental Health Improvement

66.9

No obvious sensation Feeling comfortable Sweating all over

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Pr

o

p

o

rt

io

n

Exercise intensity Interpersonal sensitivity Good interpersonal relationship

Figure 4

.

Effect of Physical Exercise Form on

Mental Health Promotion

Indifferent With Like Friends and Students Group Exercise

0 10 20 30 40

Pro

p

o

rt

io

n

Exercise form Interpersonal sensitivity

Good interpersonal relationship

Table 2.

Comparison of Mental Health and Communication Ability of the Survey Subjects before

and after Exercise

Personality Category Interpersonal sensitivity Good interpersonal relationship

Before exercise After exercise Before exercise After exercise

Interpersonal relationship 1.58 1.46 0.48 0.41

Force 1.79 1.52 0.32 0.21

anxious 1.69 1.58 0.19 0.15

depressed 1.83 1.66 0.56 0.39

terror 1.65 1.41 0.76 0.51

Paranoia 1.92 1.63 0.61 0.38

hostile 1.78 1.48 0.48 0.29

Sluggish 1.66 1.39 0.15 0.09

(5)

Table 3.

Personality Differences between Sensitive College Students and Good Interpersonal

Communication College Students

Degree Category Mean value Standard deviation Mean Standard Error

Mild intervention group 1.75 0.169 0.06

control group 2.28 0.237 0.08

Moderate intervention group 2.16 0.422 0.18

Serious intervention group 2.57 0.116 0.07

Table 4.

Comparison of personality changes among personality-sensitive college students after

intervention test

Degree Category Mean value Standard deviation Mean Standard Error

Mild before intervention 2.36 0.19 0.07

after intervention 1.78 0.18 0.06

Moderate before intervention 3.18 0.16 0.09

Serious before intervention 3.72 0.18 0.17

Table 3 and 4 show that compared with the control group, the comprehensive personality index of personality-sensitive college students was 23.4% lower in terms of mild sensitivity, 31.2% lower in moderate sensitivity, and 40.9% lower in severe sensitivity; the standard deviation was in the predicative range, indicating a positive correlation. After 12 weeks of physical exercise intervention, the test results of personality-sensitive college students were analysed, finding that after physical exercise, there is a significant improvement for them, and specifically the mild sensitivity was improved by 13.4%, the mild sensitivity by 14.2%, and the severe sensitivity by 28.9%. In order to further explore the type of exercise that is more conducive to improving mental health, a detailed analysis was carried out in terms of the intensity, form and mode of physical exercise respectively. Figure 3 shows the effect of intensity, indicating that mental-health students have more intense exercises than the sensitive students, showing an obvious satisfaction after exercise. Figure 4 shows the effect of exercise forms on mental health, in which the personality-sensitive students are more casual in the form of exercise,

participating in exercise casually and

purposelessly, and they prefer exercises alone, while mental health students showed in the opposite way. Figure 5 shows the effect of exercise modes, indicating that walking and ball exercise are the preferred sports items, and the modes of exercise has small impact on mental

health, that is, no matter what types of sports is taken, they all have positive effects on mood improvement and mental health after certain exercise activities.

Figure 5

.

Effect of Physical Exercise on

Mental Health Improvement

Run Play basketballSwimming Play footballTake a walk Other

0 10 20 30 40 50

Pro

p

o

rt

io

n

Exercise mode Interpersonal sensitivity Good interpersonal relationship

By comparing the two groups in terms of exercise intensity, form and mode, the results showed that the personality traits of personality-sensitive students can be significantly improved through physical exercise; these students are more inclined to the sports in an independent or a small group form, and the effect of exercise changes with the increase in the number and frequency of exercise. Thus, in order to improve

(6)

1167

the personality of these sensitive students through the physical exercise, it’s necessary to firstly survey and analyse their preference for sports form, and then learn about their perception of exercise, making it better for the

exercise trainer and the corresponding

psychology teacher to give more reasonable

guidance. For the respondents in this study, it’s

concluded that the exercise mode for character improvement should first be the individual form and gradually changing to the team form; the exercise intensity is measured according to their comfort level; in the early stage, walking and swimming have better improvement effects.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the survey analysis, this paper first performs a statistical analysis of the factors affecting the mental health of college students. Then it proposes that personality-sensitive students can improve their mental health through physical exercise according to the analysis results. Finally, the intervention test was conducted on personality-sensitive college students, to find that the physical exercise can significantly improve the mental health of college students. The specific conclusions are as follows:

(1) The survey analysis was conducted to make statistical analysis of survey data in different dimensions, which indicates the positive correlation between physical exercise and the college students' mental health;

(2) Based on the regression analysis method, the intervention study of physical exercise on the personality-sensitive students shows that the sensitivity index of students with different sensitivity levels is improved between 13.4%-28.9%, with an obvious effect;

(3) For the personality-sensitive college students, in the early improvement stage their exercise intensity is measured according to their comfort level; their exercise mode should first be the individual form and gradually changing to the team form; in this stage, walking and swimming are the best choice.

Acknowledgement

Subject source: Sports Culture Development Center of the State General Administration of Sports and Research Base of Sports Culture of Xihua Normal University (18TD002). Topic name: Research on

sports culture connotation and development planning of Luzhou national wooden ball base under the background of "one belt and one road" Project number: (18TD002).

REFERENCES

Blanco, C., Okuda, M., Wright, C., Hasin, D. S., & Olfson, M. (2009). Mental health of college students and their non-college-attending peers results from the national epidemiologic study on

alcohol and related conditions. Archives of

general psychiatry, 65(12), 1429-1437.

Brown, S. C., Perrino, T., Lombard, J., Wang, K. F., Toro, M., Rundek, T., Gutierrez, C. M., Dong, C., Plater-Zyberk, E., Nardi, M. I., Kardys, J., Szapocznik, J. (2018). Health disparities in the relationship of neighborhood greenness to mental health outcomes in 249,405 U.S. medicare beneficiaries. International Journal of

Environmental Research and Public Health,15(3),

430-438.

Byrd, D. A. R., & Mckinney, K. J. (2012). Individual, interpersonal, and institutional level factors associated with the mental health of college

students. Journal of American College Health,

60(3), 185-193.

Eisenberg, D., Hunt, J., Speer, N., & Zivin, K. (2011). Mental health service utilization among college students in the united states. The Journal of

Nervous and Mental Disease, 199(5), 301-308.

Griggs, S. (2017). Hope and mental health in young adult college students: an integrative review.

Journal of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services, 55(2), 28.

Have, M. T., Graaf, R. D., & Monshouwer, K. (2011). Physical exercise in adults and mental health status: findings from the Netherlands mental health survey and incidence study (nemesis).

Journal of psychosomatic research, 71(5), 342-348.

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.

Jakobsen, M. D., Sundstrup, E., Brandt, M., & Andersen, L. L. (2017). Psychosocial benefits of workplace physical exercise: cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 798. Musich, S., Wang, S. S., Hawkins, K., & Greame, C.

(7)

(2016). The frequency and health benefits of physical activity for older adults. Population

Health Management, 20(3), 199-207

Muto, T., Hayes, S. C., & Jeffcoat, T. (2011). The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy bibliotherapy for enhancing the psychological health of japanese college

students living abroad. Behavior Therapy, 42(2),

323-335.

Pickard, L., Rodriguez, A., & Lewis, K. (2017).

Person-centred phenomenology: service user

experiences of exercise. Mental Health and

Social Inclusion, 21(2), 119-126.

Saxena, S., Ommeren, M. V., Tang, K. C., & Armstrong, T. P. (2009). Mental health benefits of physical activity. Journal of Mental Health, 14(5), 445-451. Tillmann, S., Tobin, D., Avison, W., Gilliland, J. (2018).

Mental health benefits of interactions with nature in children and teenagers: a systematic

review. Journal of Epidemiology and Community

Health, 72(10), 958-966.

Torres, C., Otero, P., Bustamante, P., Blanco, V., Díaz, O., Vázquez, F. L. (2017). Mental health problems and related factors in ecuadorian college

students. International Journal of Environmental

Research and Public Health, 14(5), 530-535. Wan, J. Y., Gao, L. Y., & Xu, Z. F. (2012). Internet

addiction detection rate among college students

in the people’s republic of china: a meta-analysis.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 12(1), 25-29.

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.

Yeh, H. P., Stone, J. A., Churchill, S. M., Brymer, E., Davids, K. (2017). Physical and emotional benefits of different exercise environments

designed for treadmill running. International

Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(7), 752-756.