Evaluating the Correlation of Physical Fitness and Happiness among College Students

Physical activity has a significant impact on the quality of life and mental health of college students. The importance and role of happiness in mental health and social participation have been one of the most important priorities of psychology researchers. Also, very few studies have been conducted on happiness among college students, especially females, so the present study aimed to determine the correlation between physical fitness and happiness among female university students.

This research was a descriptive and correlational study. The participants consisted of a group of 124 females (aged 20.94 ± 1.82 years) who were selected randomly from Ilam university students. The AAHPERD battery was used to obtain the physical fitness grade of the students and the Oxford questionnaire was used to calculate their happiness. The data were analyzed by SPSS software and the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Results of this study indicated a significant relationship between physical fitness and happiness (r = 0.293, P = 0.048).

The research indicated that exercise and physical activity effectively improve students' happiness and suggested that it must pay more attention to sport programs and increase university student's physical fitness.