Comparison of Students Who Exercise with Those Who Do Not

Abstract

It is well documented that regular participation in physical activities such as running, swimming, bicycling, etc., enhances mental health, but this paper compares community college students who report participation in five or more hours of physical activities per week with students who do not participate in any regular physical activity. The author taught 66 students at a southeastern community college and requested that the students voluntarily complete the Body-cathexis and Self-cathexis Scales (Secord & Jourard, 1953) and answer the following questions: How many hours per week do you regularly spend in physical activities? Please list the physical activities and the hours you spend with each. Activities students listed included basketball, dancing, gymnastics, jumping rope, running, softball, tennis, volleyball, and weight lifting. Students were also asked to give their astrological signs. Thirty-seven students who reported five or more hours of weekly physical activity had a mean of 127.21 (SD = 17.97) on the Body-cathexis scale, and a mean of 153.55 (SD = 33.54) on the Self-cathexis scale, while the 29 nonparticipants had a mean of 119.03 (SD = 13.99) on the Body-cathexis scale and a mean of 128.59 (SD = 28.07) on the Self-carhexis scale. Using the t test, differences between means of the two measures for the two groups were significant ( P < .01), with the regular participants scoring higher. Since a high score on the Body-cathexis Scale is an indication of a good body concept, this study suggests that people who participate in regular physical activity do have a better view of their bodies as well as a higher self-concept as measured by the Self-cathexis Scale. This substantiates similar results found by Joesting and Clance (1979) who reported that runners had a significantly higher mean score on Body Cathexis and Self Cathexis than did nonrunners. An unexpected finding was that there were 6 Leos out of 29 nonparticipants and 5 Scorpios out of 37 among the regular exercisers. This suggests additional study of time of year of birth and participation in physical activity as Leo includes July 23August 22 and Scorpio, October 23-November 21.