Quality of Life and Physical Activity among University Students

• Published in: Universal journal of educational research (Print) Vol. 6; no. 6; pp. 1141 - 1148
• Main Author: Çiçek, Güner
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Horizon Research Publishing 01.06.2018
• Subjects: Body Composition; College Students; Comparative Analysis; Correlation; Foreign Countries; Interviews; Physical Activities; Physical Activity Level; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Statistical Analysis; Turkey
• ISSN: 2332-3205
• DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2018.060602

This study was to investigate the physical activity (PA) and quality of life (QoL) of sports department students (SDS) and other department students (ODS) attending university. A total of 300 university students participated in this study. 150 SDS (age; 20.67 ± 1.65 years) including 89 males and 61 females and 150 ODS (age; 19.45 ± 1.22 years) 56 males and 94 females. To determine the physical activity levels, International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) short and Quality of Life questionnaire-short form (WHOQOL-BREF) were applied. The weekly physical activity scores of SDS and ODS were 5386.24 ± 3528.47 MET-min/week and 1616.85 ± 1249.12 MET-min/week respectively and statistically difference was found (p<0.001). QoL levels and physical, psychological, social relations and environmental parameters of SDS were found to be higher than ODS and statistically significant (p <0.001). In comparison with the genders, the total average PA score of men was found as 4938.86 ± 3919.33 MET-minute/week while that of women was found as 2592.44 ± 2276.82 MET-minute/week. In the QoL parameters, only the social relations of men were higher than women, and a statistically significant difference was found (p <0.001). In university students, it was found that as the PA scores increased, QoL levels also increased and there was a positive relationship between them. Students should be encouraged to do sport in their spare time to improve their QoL levels.