Psychological Well - Being and Physical Self-Esteem in Sport and Exercise

Abstract

The value of various forms of physical activity, exercise and sport for the promotion of mental health has been emphasised in recent research and intervention programmes. This research investigated the relationship between sports involving diverse types of regular exercise, namely hockey and health club activities (team and individual sports involving relatively more aerobic and resistance exercise respectively), and various components of psychological well-being and physical self-perception. Comparisons between 60 university hockey players, 27 health club members and 111 non-exercising students revealed that both hockey players and health club members were generally more psychologically well and had more positive physical self-perception than non-exercising students. Hockey players had significantly higher means than health club members on positive relations with others, sports competence and sport importance. While health club members' means were clearly higher than hockey players on environmental mastery and perceptions of body attractiveness, these relationships did not reach statistical significance. The relevance of these findings and further implications for health, exercise and sport psychological research and interventions are discussed.

Keywords:

• psychological well-being
• physical self-perception
• sport
• exercise