Quality of life and physical activity among university students

Abstract

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.