Comparison of mental health among elderly men in athletes, active and passive groups

The aim of this study was comparing the mental health and its subscales between elderly men in athletes, active and passive groups. Therefore we have taken 150 elderly men in three groups of athletes active and passive and proceed to complete questionnaires. This is a correlation study and for comparing the mental health we have chosen the GHQ-28 questionnaire. Also to assign aging people in two groups of active and passive, we have used the Yale physical activity questionnaire and beacke questionnaire and also the athletes aged group has been separately selected from the veteran's soccer teams above 60 years. For comparing the group's mean we have used ANOVA. The results of this study revealed that there is a significant difference between three groups in physical activity levels, mental health and it's two subscales as depression symptoms, and social function (P<0.01), Also there was a significant difference between active and passive groups and between athletes and passive groups in physical symptoms, and anxiety and sleep disorder subscales (P<0.01), but the difference was not significant between the athletes and active groups. CONCLUTION: The results of the study suggest that adapted physical activity programs to the structural and psychological characteristics of elderly men can improve their mental health and lifestyle as much as their physical health.