Influence of Physical Exercise on Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults: A Quantitative Study

Physical activity is a key element in people’s health as it provides important physical benefits, as well as improves mental health and quality of life. However, recent years have seen an increase in the percentage of young adults showing high levels of inactivity. Although, it has been observed tha...

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Main Authors: Granero-Jiménez, Jesús, López Rodríguez, María Del Mar, Dobarrio Sanz, Iria, Cortés Rodríguez, Alda Elena
Format: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10835/13607
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author Granero-Jiménez, Jesús
López Rodríguez, María Del Mar
Dobarrio Sanz, Iria
Cortés Rodríguez, Alda Elena
author_facet Granero-Jiménez, Jesús
López Rodríguez, María Del Mar
Dobarrio Sanz, Iria
Cortés Rodríguez, Alda Elena
author_sort Granero-Jiménez, Jesús
collection DSpace
description Physical activity is a key element in people’s health as it provides important physical benefits, as well as improves mental health and quality of life. However, recent years have seen an increase in the percentage of young adults showing high levels of inactivity. Although, it has been observed that the motivation to perform physical activity seems to be an important factor when starting and then keeping it up. Thus, the general aim of this work was to explore the association between physical activity, motivation, and psychological well-being in young adults. To do this, a descriptive cross-sectional correlational study was carried out together with a multiple linear regression analysis. An online survey was applied between December 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, in which the level of activity, motivation, and psychological well-being of the participants were measured. Starting from a final sample of 489 subjects aged between 18 and 35 years, a higher level of physical activity was found to be related to higher psychological well-being. In addition, motivation, and more specifically intrinsic motivation, was an important determinant of psychological well-being, gaining greater influence among male participants who had a higher level of physical activity. This study therefore emphasizes the clear influence of physical activity on the psychological well-being of young adults and highlights the need to work on intrinsic motivation to improve levels of physical activity.
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spelling oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-136072023-04-12T19:19:51Z Influence of Physical Exercise on Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults: A Quantitative Study Granero-Jiménez, Jesús López Rodríguez, María Del Mar Dobarrio Sanz, Iria Cortés Rodríguez, Alda Elena exercise psychological well-being young adults motivation intrinsic motivation Physical activity is a key element in people’s health as it provides important physical benefits, as well as improves mental health and quality of life. However, recent years have seen an increase in the percentage of young adults showing high levels of inactivity. Although, it has been observed that the motivation to perform physical activity seems to be an important factor when starting and then keeping it up. Thus, the general aim of this work was to explore the association between physical activity, motivation, and psychological well-being in young adults. To do this, a descriptive cross-sectional correlational study was carried out together with a multiple linear regression analysis. An online survey was applied between December 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, in which the level of activity, motivation, and psychological well-being of the participants were measured. Starting from a final sample of 489 subjects aged between 18 and 35 years, a higher level of physical activity was found to be related to higher psychological well-being. In addition, motivation, and more specifically intrinsic motivation, was an important determinant of psychological well-being, gaining greater influence among male participants who had a higher level of physical activity. This study therefore emphasizes the clear influence of physical activity on the psychological well-being of young adults and highlights the need to work on intrinsic motivation to improve levels of physical activity. 2022-04-07T17:58:05Z 2022-04-07T17:58:05Z 2022-04-03 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 1660-4601 http://hdl.handle.net/10835/13607 10.3390/ijerph19074282 en https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/4282 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess MDPI
spellingShingle exercise
psychological well-being
young adults
motivation
intrinsic motivation
Granero-Jiménez, Jesús
López Rodríguez, María Del Mar
Dobarrio Sanz, Iria
Cortés Rodríguez, Alda Elena
Influence of Physical Exercise on Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults: A Quantitative Study
title Influence of Physical Exercise on Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults: A Quantitative Study
title_full Influence of Physical Exercise on Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults: A Quantitative Study
title_fullStr Influence of Physical Exercise on Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults: A Quantitative Study
title_full_unstemmed Influence of Physical Exercise on Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults: A Quantitative Study
title_short Influence of Physical Exercise on Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults: A Quantitative Study
title_sort influence of physical exercise on psychological well-being of young adults: a quantitative study
topic exercise
psychological well-being
young adults
motivation
intrinsic motivation
url http://hdl.handle.net/10835/13607
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