Depression in college students is one of the major problems. Depression, at times leads to serious health related issues causing several problems in student life. Most of us don’t reach out for proper counseling for depression and this can lead to high risk with lower productivity of human life. In this blog I will explore an article “Undergraduate Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms: A National Study” by Catherine A. Elliot et.al. This study explores genders on depression and suicidal symptoms with relation to physical activity. Healthy and active lifestyles are the best and easy way to deal with depression disorders.
This study will further explore how physical activity leads to cure depression/suicidal symptoms among college students. The 'Healthy People 2010' initiative is a set of national health goals established by the United States Government and one of its objectives HC2010 was to reach a minimum of 55% of adults achieving 3 or more days of activity per week by 2010. (Elliot et.al, 2012,p.230). This study examines whether the desired set goal by the healthy people 2010 is achieved.
Method:
This study was conducted in the self report, 'National College Health Assessment (NCHA)'. This survey consisted of 7 pages of different health questions. (Elliot et.al, 2012,p.230). The data used in this study was limited to 107 institutions yielding 71860 usable surveys. But surveys with missing data and graduate students were eliminated which brings the total useable survey down to 61,011undergraduate student, 85% of those answering the survey. (Elliot et.al, 2012,p.233).The student self reported on two key construct mainly depressive and suicidal symptoms and physical activity. Participants were asked different questions on the survey and provided with a range of answers they had to choose from. Questions included for example;
“within the last school year how many times have you:
(1) felt things hopeless
(2) felt very sad
(3) felt depressed so it was difficult to function
(4) seriously considered attempting suicide
(5) attempted suicide
or
On how many of the past seven days did you participate in vigorous exercise for at least 20 minutes or moderate exercise for at least 30 minutes” and for this there are 8 answer options from 0, 1, 2, 3….7 days. Data of survey was gathered and analyzed using 4×2 analysis of variance ANOVAs and Games-Howell post hoc test. The Means and standard deviation was calculated to compare different variables within the genders. (Elliot et.al, 2012,p.233).
Result
The result of this survey showed that men were more engaged in physical activity than women. The outcome of different variables was that females felt more hopelessness than males, females reported more feeling of sadness than males, females reported more frequent level of depression than males, students with less or no physical activity reported considering suicides more than students with more days of physical activity and students both male and female reported the same result for the attempted suicide variable. . (Elliot et.al, 2012,p.234-237). However, in the last variable, students with less physical activity reported more frequent attempts for suicide then students who were more physically active. (Elliot et.al, 2012,p.237). In the last only 43% of students were reaching the goal of 3 or more day of physical activity per week. The survey population failed to meet the requirement HC2010 physical activity objective of 55 % of adults being active 3 days per week. (Elliot et.al, 2012,p.237)
Conclusion
Physical activity may prevent depressive symptoms among college students. It further reveals that college men have less depressive symptoms and more physical activity than do women and finally students reporting no physical activity considered attempting suicide more than the students with one or more days of physical activity. (Elliot et.al, 2012,p.238). Students who might be at the risk of depressive and suicidal symptoms must reach out to counseling services provided by their institutions as this may help them overcome their risk and this can help them achieve a better life style.
Reference:
Elliot CA, Kennedy C, Morgan G, Anderson SK, Morris D. Undergraduate physical activity and depressive symptoms: a national study. Am J Health Behav. 2012 Mar; 36(2):230-41. PubMed PMID: 22370260.
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