Physical Activity Levels and Mental Health Status: Survey among High School Students

Siew, Bai Chuan (2023) Physical Activity Levels and Mental Health Status: Survey among High School Students. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the physical activity level and mental health status of secondary school students. A total of 175 secondary school students (male = 50.3%; female = 49.7%) aged between 13 to 17 years old from Beaconhouse Sri Inai International School participated in this study. The 7 item scale Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well Being Scale (Brown et al., 2009) and Severity Measure for Generalised Anxiety Disorder (Craske et.al., 2013) was adopted in this study. Pilot study reported a reliability of 0.755 for short warwick-edinburgh mental well being scale and 0.842 for Severity Measure for Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale. Results showed that students engaging in 3-4 days of physical activity per week had a better mental well being score of (M=21.06±3.14). While students engaging in 1-2 days of physical activity per week had a lower anxiety score of (M=16.10±6.12). Inferential statistics showed no significant differences in mental well being and anxiety score in any of the 4 demographic data collected (Physical activity level, age, sleeping hour, gender). In conclusion, the findings indicate that physical activity level is not associated with mental health status. Hence for future study, similar studies should consider other secondary students from other Beaconhouse branches in Malaysia.