The Relationships among Sport Participation Level, Flow Experience, Perceived Health Status and Depression Level of College Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between sport participation level, flow, perceived health status and depression using gender and grades as control variables of college students in Taiwan. Based on previous research, the study established the proposed model: using sport participation level and flow experience as predicting variables, perceived health status and depression as dependent variables, and gender and grades as control variables. A total of 700 structured questionnaires were distributed to college students using convenience sampling among seven universities in Taiwan with a valid return rate of 86.5%. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships among the above-mentioned variables. The study found: 1. Male students had higher self-rated health perception than female students. 2. Students with higher grades perceived higher levels of depression than those with lower grades. 3. Among all variables, the level of sport participation had a positive predicting power of perceived health status and a negative predicting power of depression level; perceived health status had a negative predicting power of depression; while flow had no moderating effect among sport participation level, perceived health status and depression. In the model, the predicting variables had a predicting power of 0.58 (R2) for depression, indicating a good model. Conclusions and implications were made according to the findings of the study.

The Association between Adverse Childhood and Adulthood Experiences, Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Depression among Young Adults in South Korea

“…In a study by Liu et al [29] on 6485 Chinese older adults, perceived health status had a negative effect on depressive symptoms, even after controlling for age, sex, marital status, education, and residency type. In a study by Lin, Hung, and Yang [30] on 700 college students, sex and grade were controlled, and perceived health status was negatively related to depressive symptoms.…”