The Effect of Chronic Exercise on Trait Anxiety in College Students Public
Rothman, Michael Tyler (2010)
Abstract
Abstract
The Effect of Chronic Exercise on Trait Anxiety in College
Students
By Michael T. Rothman, M.A.
The present study examined the effect of a semester-long exercise
program on trait anxiety in undergraduate students. A sample of 627
students participated in a 13-week program of exercise (n = 402) or
attended a Health Education class (n = 225) during the same time.
Growth Curve Analysis (GCA) was used to examine the data across the
beginning, middle and end of the study. Initial anxiety level, and
not gender, moderated the association between exercise
participation and anxiety, such that exercisers experienced
significantly lower trait anxiety at the end of the study and a
significantly faster decline in trait anxiety (as compared to
students in the control group), to the extent that they had higher
levels of anxiety at the start of the semester. Clinically
significant change was experienced by 66% of clinically anxious
exercisers and 20% of clinically anxious control group
participants. For exercisers, all types of exercise were equally
effective in reducing trait anxiety. This investigation, while
providing additional evidence for the well-documented impact of
chronic exercise on trait anxiety, also provides strong evidence
for the role of initial anxiety level in moderating this effect.
Employing GCA procedures in the data analysis allowed for a more
nuanced examination of an effect which has received significant
attention in both the exercise physiology and clinical psychology
literature over the past 30 years. Implications of the study
findings are discussed with respect to clinical applications and
future research in this field.
The Effect of Chronic Exercise on Trait Anxiety in College
Students
By
Michael T. Rothman
B.A., Emory University, 1996
M.A., California State University, Long Beach, 2003
M.A., Emory University, 2007
Advisor: Stephen Nowicki, Ph.D.
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the
James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in Clinical Psychology
2010
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction...1
Method...29
Analytic Procedures...38
Results...39
Discussion...66
References...85
Appendix A: Informed Consent Form...92
Appendix B: Exercise Expectancy Questionnaire...94
Footnotes...96
Tables and Figures
Table 1: Pearson Product Moment Intercorrelations Between Trait
Anxiety and Negative Affect for All Study Time points For the Full
Sample...97
Table 2: Pearson Product Moment Intercorrelations Between Trait
Anxiety and Negative Affect for All Study Time points for Exercise
Group...98
Table 3: Pearson Product Moment Intercorrelations Between Trait
Anxiety and Negative Affect for All Study Time points for Control
Group...99
Table 4: Spearman Intercorrelations between Control Variables and
STAI-Trait Scores at All Study Time Points for the Exercise
Group...100
Table 5: Trait anxiety for male and female exercise and control participants at each study time point...101
Table 6: Effect Sizes and Percentage of Variance Accounted For
for Group X Gender X Initial Anxiety Analysis for Time 3 Anxiety
and Change in Anxiety Over Time (Controlling for Athletic Team
Participation Only...102
Table 7: Trait anxiety for male and female exercisers and controls
in each broad exercise category at each study time point...103
Table 8: Effect Sizes and Percentage of Variance Accounted For...104
Table 9: T-ratios and P-values For All Specific Activity Analyses (df=395)...105
Table 10: Trait anxiety for male and female exercisers and controls in each broad exercise category at each study time point...106
Table 11: Effect Sizes and Percentage of Variance Accounted For...108
Table 12: Effect Sizes and Percentage of Variance Accounted For Time 2 Anxiety...109
Table 13: Effect Sizes and Percentage of Variance Accounted For
for Negative Affect...110
Figure 1: Mean Trait Anxiety at Each Study Time Point for Exercise
and Control Participants with Initial Anxiety Scores Falling in the
Clinical Range...111
About this Dissertation
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