IMPACT OF SPORTS PARTICIPATION ON STUDENTS' AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AND MENTAL WELL-BEING

Abstract

This research investigates the relationship between sports participation and aggression and mental well-being among university students. More specifically, it compares the psychological outcomes between students who do sports daily and students who do sports weekly or monthly. We surveyed 210 university students (daily & weekly/monthly) in public universities in Sindh, Pakistan. The study used an empirical, cross-sectional survey design to examine the effects of sports participation on aggression and mental well-being using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and independent sample t-tests. Daily sports participants had significantly lower aggression levels and higher mental well-being than weekly/monthly sports participants. A strong negative correlation between aggression (M = 2.68, SD = .85) and mental well-being (M = 3.85, SD = .84) was found to be (r = -.524, p <0.01), indicating that higher levels of aggression are associated with poorer mental health and vice versa. An independent samples t-test revealed a significant difference in aggression levels between daily and weekly/monthly sports participants, t= -3.226, p = 0.001. The mean difference was M = -.3704, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from -.5967 to -.1441. This indicates that daily sports participation is associated with lower aggression levels. These results have implications for promoting daily physical activity to improve university students’ psychological well-being. Future research should explore the long-term effects of various types of sports participation on mental health outcomes.