Analysis of Articles about Physical Activity of College Students - Essay Example

Annotated Bibliography Maglione, J. L., & Hayman, L. L. (2009), Correlates of physical activity in low income college Journal of Research in Nursing and Health, 32, 634–646. The purpose of the study was to highlight the relationship of social support, self efficacy and commitment to plan physical activities along with analyzing the physical activity behaviors of a sample of low income college students. The students belonged to an undergraduate college offering Educational Opportunity Fund Program at a public university in New Jersey. The sample consisted of 416 students. The responding sample of 95 students had a mean age of 19.7 years. The results show that there is a great relationship amongst social support, self efficacy and commitment to plan physical activities. Data were analyzed using SPSS software for descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and regression analysis. Overall, the study reveals that those with higher level of social support, self efficacy and commitment have more physical activity behaviors. There are no issues regarding construct validity as the study has been conducted showing reliable and valid results. The study includes only 23% of the total sample size that may not be sufficient enough to understand the physical behavior of a particular sample size. External validity depends on large sample size in terms of being acceptable and comparable with other data but the sample size is too low to infer anything. Mailey, E, Jcicki, T, Motl, R, Hu, L, Strauser, D, Collins, K, and McAuley, E (2010), Internet-delivered physical activity intervention for college students with mental health disorders: A randomized pilot trial, Journal of Psychology, Health & Medicine, 646–659 The purpose of the study was to highlight the physical and mental disorders amongst the college students mainly because of anxiety, depression and other social factors. Internet has been considered as an emerging source of offering physical activity information to college students based on physical activity intervention on physical activity, self efficacy and anxiety. A total of 47 samples were studied for this purpose showing an increase in the physical condition (d=0.68) compared to controlled condition (d=0.5). Finally correlation analysis showed that increase in physical activity is associated with increase in self efficacy (r=0.62) and barriers self efficacy (r=0.68) and decrease in depression (r=-0.44) in the intervention condition and not in the controlled condition. Finally, the research showed that internet related intervention can be promising enough to introduce physical activities along with influencing physical behaviors amongst college students. There are no issues pertaining to construct validity. However, number of samples can be a worry considering the overall size of the samples External validity can only be analyzed once the data can be compared with other studies conducted in the same field and considering the small sample size, it seems there is a need to analyze the reliability on a broader level. 1 Buckworth, J, Nigg, C (2004), Physical Activity, Exercise, and Sedentary Behavior in College Students, Journal of American College Health, VOL. 53, PG#S. The purpose of the study was to highlight the relationship between physical activities, exercise and sedentary behavior of students. A total of 493 college students of Midwestern University participated in the study. 288 were women and rest was men. The average age of participants was 21 years .Surveyed men reported greater degree of physical exercise compared to women. Older students were more inclined to computer activities while younger students were more engrossed in physical activities. Out of all these results, computer use of men and television viewing of women acted as a negative correlation with exercise and physical activities. Students reported to be spending around 30 hours in sedentary activities mostly studying. The male students reported more hours spending in watching television, using computer and studying compared to female students and yet claiming to be the one engaged in physical activities. There has been a significant relationship between the age and sedentary behavior and physical activities. The construct validity does not offer a great insight over the theory and practical implications of the same as there is no clarity over valid measuring of sedentary activities, physical activities and exercise. The external validity can be analysed and generalized from participants of other population and conditions. This may require comparison with other college students approach in order to come up with realistic findings. Kemper, K, Welsh, R (2004), Physical activity behaviors of students of a rural historically black college, Journal of American College Health, VOL. 58, NO. 4 The purpose of the study was to highlight whether physical activities can have a positive impact on health disparities among African Americans. For this purpose, students of Historically Black College were asked for an online survey and pedometers were used to measure physical activities and behaviors. A sample of 106 students completed the survey and data were submitted online for five weeks. 28% students met recommendations for moderate physical activities while 41% students met for vigorous physical activities. The study reveals that less than half of participants met the recommended level of moderate and vigorous exercise. This also suggested that there is a need of implementing physical activities program in the college. The study has limitations in the form of limited number of samples that do not highlight the belief of a particular society. Moreover, perceptions and beliefs play an important role in accepting physical activities and changing physical behavior. The construct validity defines the situation well and can be associated with the theory considering the fact that 50% students were ready to embrace physical activities on the grounds of self efficacy and outcome expectations. The study lacks flow and considering the small sample size, even external validity is questionable. However, the validity cannot be snubbed completely as the study did highlight something important in terms of self efficacy and readiness of participants. 2 Selena T. Nguyen-Michel, Unger, J, Hamilton, J and Spruijt, D (2006), association between physical activity and perceived stress in college students, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Stress and Health 22: 179–188 The purpose of the study was to identify the importance of physical activities in managing stress amongst college students. The diverse sample consists of 814 male and female students from three different colleges in South California. The relationship between perceived stress and physical activities were assessed through formulating questionnaires that helped in understanding the overall behaviour of students. The formulated hypothesis stating that physical activities are associated with lower level of hassles and perceived stress was tested using covariate analysis. The model was run twice, one with perceived stress as the dependent variable and once hassles as dependent variable. The study also has a significant relationship with demographic factors like perceived stress and hassles are inversely associated with the age. However, the theory relates with the practical evidences and study and construct validity can be considered as quite on line. It is important to assess the physical behavior of other college students in terms of physical activities and its relationship with stress and hassles to improve external validity. 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