The Relationship Between Physical Activity And Subjective Well-being In College Students Over The Course Of A Semester: A Short-term Longitudinal Study

Subjective well-being is an essential construct in positive psychology and is linked with various physical and mental health outcomes in college students. Physical activity (PA) is one of the key factors that have been shown to positively affect subjective well-being. PURPOSE: To examine the associations between different intensities of PA and multiple dimensions of subjective well-being at the beginning and end of a semester. METHODS: A short-term longitudinal design was employed with a cohort of 743 students (mean age = 19.63 years, 49.1% female) from a large university in China. Data on PA and subjective well-being indicators, including life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect, were collected during the third week of the semester and the week before final exams. Statistical analyses included paired samples t-tests to assess changes of PA and subjective well-being over time and multiple linear regression models to determine cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between them. RESULTS: The results revealed a significant decrease in participants' engagement in PA of all intensities, lower life satisfaction, and higher levels of negative affect from the beginning to the end of the semester (p’s < 0.05). Vigorous-intensity PA at Time 2 emerged as a significant predictor of end-of-semester life satisfaction (β = 0.082, p = .005), positive affect (β = 0.084, p = .007), and negative affect (β = -0.07, p = .041), even after adjusting for baseline levels of the corresponding subjective well-being indicators and different intensities of PA at the beginning of the semester, while PA levels at the beginning of the semester did not predict subjective well-being at the semester's end. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of vigorous-intensity PA in supporting subjective well-being during periods of high academic stress. Universities should implement targeted programs to encourage vigorous-intensity PA to support student well-being.