Type: Research Paper | Subject: Health & Social Care | Level: Undergraduate | Word Count: ~2,200 words | Referencing: Harvard
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For your Level 5 Research Methods in Health & Social Care module, write a quantitative research paper (2,000–2,500 words) investigating the relationship between physical activity levels and psychological wellbeing in a sample of UK university students, incorporating an appropriate self-report measure of both variables.
This study investigated the relationship between physical activity levels and psychological wellbeing in a sample of UK university students. A cross-sectional survey design was used with 128 students who completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) short form and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). Participants were categorised into low, moderate and high physical activity groups based on standard IPAQ scoring criteria. A one-way analysis of variance showed a significant effect of physical activity group on WEMWBS score, F(2, 125) = 8.94, p < .001, with post-hoc tests indicating that the high-activity group reported significantly higher wellbeing than the low-activity group. Physical activity level and WEMWBS score were also positively correlated, r(126) = .31, p < .001. These findings support existing evidence linking physical activity to psychological wellbeing and suggest that university-based interventions to increase student activity levels may have positive implications for student mental health.
Student mental health and wellbeing has become an increasing focus for UK higher education institutions, with a substantial proportion of students reporting elevated levels of stress, anxiety and low mood during their studies (Universities UK, 2020). At the same time, physical inactivity is common among the student population, with lifestyle changes associated with the transition to university, including reduced structured exercise, changed routines, and increased sedentary time associated with study and screen use, often contributing to declining activity levels compared with adolescence (Sport England, 2022). Given the well-established physical health benefits of regular physical activity, and mounting evidence for its psychological benefits, understanding the relationship between physical activity and wellbeing in this population is of considerable practical importance to universities seeking to support student mental health.
A substantial body of research links physical activity to improved mental health outcomes across the general population. Meta-analytic evidence suggests that physical activity is associated with reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety (Biddle and Asare, 2011; Stubbs et al., 2017), and mechanistic reviews have proposed several biological and psychosocial pathways through which exercise may improve mood and wellbeing, including neurobiological changes, improved sleep, increased self-efficacy and opportunities for social interaction (Kandola et al., 2019). However, much of this evidence relates to clinical or general adult populations rather than specifically to university students, and studies vary considerably in how physical activity and wellbeing are measured, making direct comparison difficult.
The World Health Organization (2020) recommends that adults undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, but survey data suggest that a substantial minority of UK university students fall short of this recommendation. Given the potential for university-based physical activity interventions to support student wellbeing, there is a clear need for research using validated, UK-relevant measures of both physical activity and wellbeing within this specific population. This study therefore aimed to examine the relationship between physical activity level, as measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and psychological wellbeing, as measured by the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), among a sample of UK university students. It was hypothesised that higher physical activity levels would be associated with higher wellbeing scores.
Interest in the relationship between physical activity and mental health has grown substantially over the past two decades, driven partly by a shift in public health policy towards non-pharmacological approaches to supporting mental wellbeing. Bize, Johnson and Plotnikoff’s (2007) systematic review of physical activity and health-related quality of life in general adult populations found a consistent positive association between habitual physical activity and multiple domains of quality of life, including mental health domains, across the majority of reviewed studies, although the authors noted considerable heterogeneity in how physical activity was operationalised across studies, ranging from simple self-report frequency measures to more detailed questionnaires such as the IPAQ.
Biddle and Asare’s (2011) review of reviews, focused on children and adolescents, similarly found generally positive associations between physical activity and mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety and self-esteem, though the authors cautioned that much of the underlying evidence was cross-sectional, limiting causal interpretation. This limitation is echoed across much of the broader physical activity and mental health literature, including studies conducted with adult and student populations.
More mechanistic work has sought to explain why physical activity might improve wellbeing. Kandola et al. (2019), reviewing the antidepressant mechanisms of exercise, highlighted several plausible pathways, including exercise-induced neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, reductions in systemic inflammation, and psychosocial mechanisms such as increased self-efficacy, improved body image, and social contact associated with group-based or outdoor activity. Stubbs et al.’s (2017) meta-analysis, focused specifically on anxiety, found a moderate anxiolytic effect of exercise across both clinical and non-clinical populations, with effects broadly consistent regardless of exercise modality, suggesting that the type of physical activity undertaken may matter less than simply achieving a sufficient volume of activity.
Within the specific context of higher education, Universities UK (2020) has highlighted mental health and wellbeing as a strategic priority for the sector, citing rising rates of reported student mental health difficulty, and has recommended a ‘whole-university’ approach that includes attention to lifestyle factors such as physical activity alongside more traditional counselling and clinical support services. Despite this policy interest, relatively few UK studies have directly examined the physical activity-wellbeing relationship using validated measures specifically within student samples, with much of the applied evidence instead drawn from general population surveys such as the Active Lives Adult Survey (Sport England, 2022), which reports lower average physical activity levels, and correspondingly higher rates of inactivity, among young adults of typical student age compared with older working-age adults.
The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS; Tennant et al., 2007) was developed and validated specifically within a UK population and has become one of the most widely used positively-worded measures of mental wellbeing in UK research and policy contexts (Stewart-Brown and Janmohamed, 2008), making it a particularly appropriate measure for a UK student sample. This study uses the WEMWBS alongside the internationally validated IPAQ short form (Craig et al., 2003) to examine the physical activity-wellbeing relationship within a UK university student sample, addressing a relative gap in the student-specific literature.
Design. A cross-sectional correlational and between-groups survey design was used, with physical activity category (low, moderate, high) as a between-groups factor and WEMWBS score as the primary continuous outcome variable, alongside a continuous IPAQ activity score for correlational analysis.
Participants. A total of 128 students (89 female, 37 male, 2 non-binary; M age = 21.4 years, SD = 2.6) were recruited from a UK university via departmental email lists and campus poster advertising, using an opportunity sampling approach. Students from a range of academic disciplines took part, and all participants provided informed consent prior to taking part. The study received approval from the relevant university research ethics committee.
Materials. Physical activity was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form (IPAQ; Craig et al., 2003), which assesses walking, moderate and vigorous activity over the past seven days and yields a continuous MET-minutes-per-week score, alongside standard categorical scoring into low, moderate and high activity groups. Psychological wellbeing was measured using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS; Tennant et al., 2007), a 14-item positively-worded scale yielding a total score from 14 to 70, with higher scores indicating greater wellbeing. A brief demographic questionnaire collected age, gender and academic discipline.
Procedure. Participants completed an online survey comprising the demographic questionnaire, IPAQ and WEMWBS, in that order, taking approximately 12 minutes to complete. Participants were given an information sheet and provided electronic consent before beginning, and were shown a debrief screen with signposting to university wellbeing services upon completion.
Analysis. IPAQ responses were scored according to standard IPAQ protocols to produce both a continuous MET-minutes score and a three-level categorical activity variable. A one-way between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare WEMWBS scores across the three IPAQ activity groups, with Tukey post-hoc comparisons where the omnibus test was significant. A Pearson correlation was also calculated between continuous IPAQ MET-minutes score and WEMWBS score.
Table 1 shows descriptive statistics for WEMWBS score by IPAQ physical activity group. Mean wellbeing scores increased across the three activity groups, with the high-activity group reporting the highest mean WEMWBS score and the low-activity group the lowest.
| Activity Group | n | Mean WEMWBS | SD | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 34 | 44.6 | 7.9 | 28–58 |
| Moderate | 51 | 48.2 | 6.4 | 32–61 |
| High | 43 | 51.4 | 6.1 | 38–66 |
Table 1. WEMWBS wellbeing score by IPAQ physical activity group (N = 128).
A one-way ANOVA showed a significant effect of physical activity group on WEMWBS score, F(2, 125) = 8.94, p < .001, η² = .125, indicating a medium-to-large effect size. Tukey post-hoc comparisons showed that the high-activity group scored significantly higher than the low-activity group (mean difference = 6.8, p < .001) and the moderate-activity group scored significantly higher than the low-activity group (mean difference = 3.6, p = .019); the difference between the moderate- and high-activity groups did not reach significance (mean difference = 3.2, p = .068).
A Pearson correlation between continuous IPAQ MET-minutes score and WEMWBS score confirmed this pattern, showing a significant positive association, r(126) = .31, p < .001, indicating that, across the full range of self-reported activity, higher levels of physical activity were associated with higher psychological wellbeing scores. Together, the categorical and continuous analyses provide converging evidence for a positive relationship between physical activity and wellbeing in this sample.
This study examined the relationship between physical activity and psychological wellbeing in a sample of UK university students, using validated measures of both physical activity (IPAQ) and wellbeing (WEMWBS). As hypothesised, higher physical activity levels were associated with higher wellbeing scores, both when activity was treated as a categorical grouping variable and when analysed as a continuous MET-minutes score. Students in the high-activity group reported meaningfully higher wellbeing than those in the low-activity group, and this pattern was mirrored in a significant positive correlation across the full sample. These findings are consistent with the broader physical activity and mental health literature (Biddle and Asare, 2011; Stubbs et al., 2017) and extend this evidence specifically to a UK student population.
The pattern of results, in which the largest wellbeing gap was found between the low- and high-activity groups, with a smaller and non-significant difference between the moderate- and high-activity groups, is broadly consistent with a dose-response relationship in which even moderate increases in activity above a low baseline are associated with meaningful wellbeing benefits, though additional gains from further increases in activity may be smaller. This pattern would be consistent with several of the mechanisms proposed by Kandola et al. (2019), including improved self-efficacy and social contact, which may plausibly be achieved through moderate rather than only high levels of activity, as well as with WHO (2020) guidance framing 150 minutes of moderate activity per week, rather than high-intensity training, as a meaningful public health target.
These findings have practical relevance for university wellbeing strategy. Given the cross-sectional design of this study, causal claims cannot be made with confidence; however, taken alongside the wider experimental and longitudinal literature on exercise and mental health, the results support continued and expanded investment in accessible physical activity opportunities, such as low-cost sport and fitness provision, active travel infrastructure, and activity-based social groups, as a plausible component of a ‘whole-university’ approach to student mental health (Universities UK, 2020).
Several limitations should be noted. The cross-sectional design means the direction of the relationship cannot be established; it is plausible that students with better wellbeing are more able or motivated to be physically active, rather than physical activity causing improved wellbeing. Both physical activity and wellbeing were measured using self-report instruments, which may be subject to social desirability and recall bias, particularly for retrospective activity estimates. The sample was drawn from a single UK university using opportunity sampling and was predominantly female, limiting generalisability to the wider UK student population. Future research using objective activity tracking, for example accelerometry, and longitudinal or experimental designs would help clarify the direction and causal status of the relationship identified here.
This study found a significant positive relationship between physical activity and psychological wellbeing in a sample of UK university students, with students reporting higher activity levels also reporting higher wellbeing on a validated measure. The strongest wellbeing gains were observed between low- and higher-activity groups, suggesting that encouraging inactive students to become even moderately active may be an effective focus for university wellbeing initiatives. While the cross-sectional design limits causal conclusions, these findings are consistent with a substantial existing literature linking physical activity to improved mental health, and support the inclusion of physical activity promotion within broader university mental health and wellbeing strategies. Further UK-based longitudinal and intervention research is needed to establish causality and to identify the most effective and accessible ways of increasing physical activity among less active students.
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