The Role of General Physical Education Classes on the Characteristics, Personality and Mental Well-Being of Female Student

Physical activity is a way to help people to acquire skills, knowledge and positive attitudes towards optimal growth, gaining general health and living happy moments. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of general physical education classes on personality traits and mental well-being of female students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

The present study is a quasi-experimental study with a pretest and posttest design and a control group. The target population included all female medical students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The participants of the experimental group were selected from among the students who had taken the one-credit general physical education course while the participants of the control group had not taken the general physical education course. The students completed the Berne Reuters Personality Questionnaire and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire in two stages (first semester and end of semester). The general classes of the experimental group were conducted for 12 weeks and each week a 90-minute session was held from 8.30 am to 10 am. SPSS software was used for statistical analysis and analysis of covariance.

The results showed that general physical education classes had a significant effect on all six personality traits studied and the students' mental well-being (happiness) (P=0.001). This period increased the traits of self-confidence, sociability and excellence and decreased the traits of nervousness, introversion and self-being of the participants and also increased the mental well-being of the experimental group (p<0.05).

Doing sports activities promotes personality traits and students' mental well-being.