Journal article

Personality trait predictors and mental well-being correlates of exercise frequency across the academic semester

Lara Kroencke, Gabriella M Harari, Marko Katana, Samuel D Gosling

SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2019

Abstract

RATIONALE: Regular exercise is frequently recommended as a means of combating the negative effects of stress on mental health. But, among college students, exercise frequency remains below recommended levels. OBJECTIVE: To better understand exercising behaviors in college students, we examined how exercise patterns change across an academic semester and how these changes relate to personality traits and mental well-being. METHOD: We conducted two longitudinal experience sampling studies, using data from four cohorts of students, spanning four semesters (Fall 2015 - Spring 2017). In Study 1, a large sample of United States college students (cohort 1; N = 1126) reported the number of days they..

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Grants

Awarded by National Science Foundation (NSF)


Funding Acknowledgements

We thank Elliot Tucker-Drob for his helpful feedback on the analyses presented in this article. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Award No.1520288. The results were presented at the Health Preconference for the 19th Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (February, 2018) and at the 30th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science (May, 2018).