Physical activity habits prevent psychological distress in female academic students: The multiple mediating role of physical and psychosocial parameters.

Background

Psychological distress is recognised as the most common mental health difficulty in emerging adult (18-to-24-year-old) female academic students. This study aimed to test a novel model positing physical activity habits as a protective factor for psychological distress through the mediating role of physical and psychological parameters. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and self-reported physical health status were included as physical parameters. Self-reported psychological health status and time spent on leisure activities were the psychological parameters considered.

Method

Data were collected between April and May 2021. Correlation analyses and a multiple mediation model were computed on 411 online questionnaires filled out by 18-to-24-year-old female students from the University of blind (Italy).

Results

The multiple indirect effects were significant (

Conclusions

Results show that academic policies should be adopted so as to design physical activity programmes that may improve the students' healthy behaviours and social interactions, which, in turn, mitigate the detrimental effects of psychological distress.

Informations de copyright

© 2024 The Authors.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.