Assessment of Subjective Well-Being in a Cohort of University Students and Staff Members: Association with Physical Activity and Outdoor Leisure Time during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Autor(a) principal: Quarta, Stefano
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Levante, Annalisa, García-Conesa, María-Teresa, Lecciso, Flavia, Scoditti, Egeria, Carluccio, Maria Annunziata, Calabriso, Nadia, Damiano, Fabrizio, Santarpino, Giuseppe, Verri, Tiziano, Pinto, Paula, Siculella, Luisa, Massaro, Marika
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.15/4134
• topic: subjective well-being (SWB); distress; mental health; general health; quality of life; social relationship; sport practice; time spent in nature

Time spent outdoors and physical activity (PA) promote mental health. To confirm this relationship in the aftermath of COVID-19 lockdowns, we explored individual levels of anxiety, depression, stress and subjective well-being (SWB) in a cohort of academic students and staff members and tested their association with sport practice, PA at leisure time and time spent outdoors. Our cross-sectional study collected data during the COVID-19 outbreak (April–May 2021) on 939 students and on 238 employees, who completed an online survey on sociodemographic and lifestyle features, depression, anxiety, stress, and SWB. Results showed that the students exhibited higher levels of anxiety, depression, and stress, and lower levels of SWB (p< 0.001 for all domains) compared to the staff members. Correlation analysis confirmed that PA and time spent in nature were associated to high mental health scores among staff and, more consistently, among students. Finally, mediation analyses indicated that the time spent in nature, social relationships, and levels of energy play a mediator role in the relationship between sport practice and SWB. Our evidence reinforces the protective role of time spent in nature in improving mental health, and providessupport for policymakers to make appropriate choices for a better management of COVID-19 pandemic consequences.