Effect of physical perceptions on perceived stress among athlete employees: self-assessment as a mediator

Stress has become an ingredient of the modern life. This study aimed to examine a model composed of direct and indirect effects with regard to the mediating role of self-assessment latent variable which includes self-efficacy and self-esteem components of physical perceptions construct including physical attractiveness and physical self-worth on perceived stress in athlete employees. This study was conducted using structural equation modeling. The statistical population included all the athlete employees at Tehran Province Gas Company. Among the population, a sample of 187 individuals was selected using simple random sampling method. The reliable and valid instruments were employed. The findings indicated that the direct path in the proposed model should be eliminated and after removing this path, the model’s fitness parameters were optimized. According to the data of this research, it can be concluded that exercise effects perceived stress positively in employees primarily due to the improvement of physical perceptions and consequent effect of physical perceptions on perceived stress through increasing the self-assessment construct and its components.