Explicating the Relationship of Health Measures and Self-Esteem to Exercise Practices in Adults

Abstract

Individuals who regularly exercised and those who did not were studied to ascertain differences in definition of health, perceived health status, and self-esteem. Results for this sample of 497 adults indicated that individuals who regularly exercised had higher perceived health status and definition of health scores than those acquiring the practice and even higher scores than nonexercisers. Self-esteem scores for the three groups were approximately equal. While females outnumbered males three to one in initiation of regular exercise, males were more likely to maintain the practice. Efforts to motivate individuals toward regular exercise practices could be well-focused on those employed full-time.