Effects of Regular Group Physical Exercise on Affectivity and Perceived Social Support

Abstract

This experimental study examined the effects on the changes in affectivity and perceived social support by regular group physical exercise (n = 20) as compared with regular social gatherings (n = 20), with 40 participants who age 18-40 and had not regularly participated in any physical exercise twice a week for more than one week within the preceding 3 months of the experiment. Eligible participants were allocated to the experimental and control group randomly. Those in the experimental group were asked to take part in any kind of group physical exercise twice a week with duration of around one hour each time, and each session would be distributed evenly within the week. In the control group, the correspondent participants were requested to have gathering with friends with the same duration, frequency and distribution as those in the experimental group. The entire intervention period lasted for three weeks. Participants were invited to complete a pack of questionnaires before and after the experiment. Results suggested that regular group physical exercise increased the degree of positive affect and perceived social support from friends and significant others significantly. The mechanisms of the resulted casual relationships and their practical implications were discussed. Since study of effects of group physical exericse on social support is such a new area that none of the previous researchers had done, in addition to the main focus on the reduction of negative affect in the extent literature and lack of current research about the effect of physical exercise on positive affect, this study can serve as a pioneering analysis in these topics for future research.