The relationship between emotional well-being and outcome expectancies with physical activity level among undergraduate students during Covid-19 pandemic

Tan, Ye Lyn (2022) The relationship between emotional well-being and outcome expectancies with physical activity level among undergraduate students during Covid-19 pandemic. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the university students both physically and mentally. The pre-existing problem of physical inactivity and poor emotional well-being among this vulnerable population was exaggerated by this situation. This study was a cross-sectional study conducted during March to June 2022 to determine the relationship between emotional well-being and outcome expectancies with physical activity level among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 165 respondents were recruited for this study. A moderate physical activity level [1173.00 (1899.95) MET minutes/week.], good emotional well-being [positive affect = 32.66 ± 6.08; negative affect = 24.01 ± 7.55], and high self-evaluative outcome expectancies [21.00 (5)] and perceived outcome immediacy [25.87±5.21] were found from the study. However, the PAL was relatively lower than pre-pandemic. There were also weak positive correlations found between positive affect (r=0.290, p=0.000), perceived outcome immediacies (r=0.278, p=0.000) with TPA. Out of the three dimensions of exercise outcomes, self-evaluative (r= 0.254, p=0.001) followed by physical (r=0.296, p=0.000) outcomes immediacy were significantly correlated to PAL but not for social outcomes. There was no correlation found between outcome expectancies and PAL. However, there were weak positive correlation specifically between social outcome expectancies (r=0.177, p=0.023) and immediacy (r=0.277, p=0.000) with VPA. In conclusion, attention on the problem of increasing physical inactivity among the students and the importance of the PA on emotional well-being should be raised. It is also suggested to integrate the perceived outcome immediacy especially the self-evaluative and physical outcomes as a possible factor influencing the PAL of the students in the future PA interventions. Moreover, stressing on the social benefits of vigorous-intensity team sports and exercises can be a way to promote the PAL among the students as well due to the unique correlation between social outcomes and VPA.

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