Does the Association between Depressive Symptomatology and Physical Activity Depend on Body Image Perception? A Survey of Students from Seven Universities in the UK

Abstract

This cross-sectional study assessed the association between depression and PA in university students of both genders and the role of body image perception as a potential effect modifier. Undergraduate students (N = 3706) from seven universities in the UK completed a self-administered questionnaire that assessed sociodemographic information; a range of health, health behaviour and health awareness related factors; the modified version of Beck’s Depression Inventory (M-BDI); educational achievement, and different levels of physical activity (PA), such as moderate PA (at least 5 days per week moderate exercise of at least 30 minutes), and vigorous PA (at least 3 days per week vigorous exercise of at least 20 minutes). Only 12.4% of the sample achieved the international recommended level for moderate PA, and 33.1% achieved the recommendations for vigorous PA. Both moderate and vigorous PA were inversely related to the M-BDI score. Physically active students, regardless of the type of PA, were significantly more likely to perceive their health as good, to have higher health awareness, to perform strengthening exercises, and to be males. The stratified analyses indicated that the association between depression and PA differed by body image. In students perceiving their body image as ‘just right’, moderate (>4th percentile) and high (>5th percentile) M-BDI scores were inversely related to vigorous PA. However, in students who perceived their body image as ‘overweight’, the inverse association was only significant in those with high M-BDI scores. We conclude that the positive effect of PA on depression could be down modulated by the negative impact of a ‘distorted’ body image on depression. The practical implications of these findings are that PA programmes targeting persons with depressive symptoms should include effective components to enhance body image perception.

Correlates of Achieving the Guidelines of Four Forms of Physical Activity, and the Relationship between Guidelines Achievement and Academic Performance: Undergraduate Students in Finland

“…Our observed 36% MVPA guideline achievement (whole sample) is in line with undergraduates in the USA (41.9% prevalence of meeting public health MVPA recommendations) (3). Likewise, our observed 17% MPA guideline achievement (whole sample) supports the 12.4% MPA guideline achievement level reported across UK universities (36); and our 29% VPA guideline achievement (whole sample) was close to the 33.1% VPA guideline achievement level of students enrolled at seven universities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (36). However, our whole sample's MSPA guidelines achievement (41%) was higher than the 23.9% reported for undergraduates in the UK (36), suggesting that muscle stretching and muscle strengthening workouts, muscle conditioning activities and muscle toning generally might be more popular among Finnish/Scandinavian students than in the UK.…”

“…The study was a general student health and wellbeing survey similar to studies of student health implemented in several countries (31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37). It included self-reported socio-demographic data (e.g., gender, age, weight, height), information on various forms of PA, as well as university study (academic achievement) related questions.…”

“…The questionnaire has been used and field-tested across different student populations (6,7,15,(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37).…”

Factors Associated With Smoking, Quit Attempts and Attitudes towards Total Smoking Bans at University: A Survey of Seven Universities in England, Wales and Northern ireland

“…Low Physical Activity (PA) (1 item): defined as achieving 0 vigorous and 0 or 1 day of moderate exercise in the past 7 days (Seo et al, 2007;El Ansari et al, 2011b). This was computed from two types (levels) of PA that were measured.…”

Attitudes of students to physical activity

“…Студија која је урађена у Великој Брита-нији у току школске 2007/2008 године даје процену физичке активности студената са седам универзитета. Општи закључак је да је ниво физичке активности релативно низак (54,5% неактивних) у овом узорку студената са различитих британских универзитета у односу на студенте обухваћене овим истра-живањем 19 . Позитиван ефекат на здравље могао би да дође до изражаја уколико се учествује у физичким активностима и програ-мима који промовишу физичку активност 20 .…”