Physical Activity Participation and Psychological Wellbeing in University Office Workers in China and Australia: An Online Survey

A Latent Profile Analysis of PERMA: Associations with Physical Activity and Psychological Distress among Chinese Nursing College Students

Background: The wellbeing of college students is an important concern for public health, and may have associations with insufficient physical activity and psychological distress. This study aimed to identify the latent classes of wellbeing based on the PERMA (i.e., positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments) wellbeing framework, and to explore their associations with levels of physical activity and psychological distress. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted. A latent profile analysis was performed to characterize the different classes of wellbeing of nursing college students. Results: A group of 1741 nursing college students in China completed the study. Three wellbeing classes were identified in the final model (i.e., low-level wellbeing, moderate-level wellbeing, and high-level wellbeing). Significant differences were found between the three classes in terms of gender (p = 0.002) and year of study (p = 0.038). Low levels of physical activity participation were significantly associated with lower odds of being in the high-level wellbeing class compared with the moderate-level wellbeing class (OR = 1.398, 95%CI [1.023, 1.910], p = 0.035). Lower levels of psychological distress were also associated with greater wellbeing among the three wellbeing classes (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Effective strategies are needed to increase college students’ physical activity participation and decrease the severity of psychological distress to improve their health and wellbeing in China.

Anxiety Status of Female Chinese Ph.D. Candidates and Its Association with Sports

Given that stress leads to more anxiety among female Ph.D. candidates, more attention should be paid to their healthy lifestyle options. Several studies have shown that there is a negative correlation between sports and anxiety. This study took female Chinese Ph.D. candidates’ anxiety and sports participation as the research objects. A questionnaire entitled “Investigation on anxiety and sports of Ph.D. candidates” was used to explore the characteristics of anxiety in female Chinese Ph.D. candidates and to investigate the association between anxiety and sports in female Chinese Ph.D. candidates. A total of 588 Ph.D. candidates participated in the questionnaire survey. Some 21 invalid questionnaires were eliminated through the standard deviation of the items of the scale, and 567 valid questionnaires were finally obtained. The questionnaire survey was conducted online from 26 February to 15 March 2022, using the convenience sampling method. The results show that the anxiety level of female Chinese Ph.D. candidates is higher than that of male Ph.D. candidates and that the anxiety level of female Ph.D. candidates in a non-sports discipline is the highest. Weekly sports participation significantly lowers female Ph.D. candidates’ anxiety level (p < 0.01). Physical fatigue caused by study and work hinders female Ph.D. candidates from participating in sports (p < 0.05). Some female Chinese Ph.D. candidates in a negative emotional state are unwilling to participate in sports (p < 0.01). Future research should formulate different types of sports intervention programs suitable for alleviating the anxiety of female Ph.D. candidates.