Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6288-9832

Date of Award

Summer 7-31-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (PhD)

Department

Kinesiology and Health

First Advisor

Dr. Rachel Gurvitch

Second Advisor

Dr. Kathryn Wilson

Third Advisor

Dr. Deborah Shapiro

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Chad Killian

Abstract

Mental health problems, especially anxiety and stress, are a growing concern in youth. Physical activity (PA) has been shown to help decrease these feelings in children and adolescents. Because children and adolescents spend a majority of each day in school, physical education (PE) is an environment that can provide students the opportunity to participate in PA during the school day, which could be key to supporting their mental health. However, research examining students’ feelings of anxiety and stress during PE is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine how feelings of anxiety and stress change over the course of a high school PE class, an art class, and a US history class. Participants included 9th-10th grade students enrolled in either PE class, art class, or US history class. Over three days, students from each class completed trait anxiety (first day only), state anxiety, and stress surveys at the beginning and end of class in addition to wearing an accelerometer to measure PA levels during class. Bivariate correlations, a chi-squared test for association, and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed before the main analysis in order to determine any covariates that need to be included in the main analysis. A three-way mixed model repeated measures ANCOVA was performed as the main analysis to determine if there were statistically significant differences in state anxiety and stress scores over the class period, between classes, and between days. The results of this study did not find significant changes in students state anxiety and stress scores over a class period, between classes, or between days. Future research should continue to study PE and PA in order to understand the impact it has on student mental health.

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