The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that campus recreation could play an important role in student development by providing opportunities for students to cope with the increasing pressures and stress of college life. Forty-four university students completed pre-tests and daily diaries for five weeks surrounding their final exams. Hierarchical multiple regression procedures were used to control the confounding effect of personality, initial anxiety, and physical health on the predictive relationship between recreational sport participation and perceived social support with stress-related anxiety. The results confirmed the hypothesis that after controlling for personality variations, initial anxiety and physical health, both perceived social support and participation in recreational sports could buffer stress-related anxiety.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BolgerN., & EckenrodeJ. (1991). Social relationships, personality, and anxiety during a major stressful event. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 440–449.
2.
BroerK.A. (1996). Self-efficacy, alcohol expectancy and problem-solving appraisal as predictors of alcohol use in college students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Kent State University.
3.
BrownR. (1987). Exercise as an adjunct to the treatment of mental disorders. In MorganW.P., & GoldstonS. (Eds.), S. Exercise and mental health. (pp. 131–137). Washington, DC: Hemisphere publishing.
4.
CaltabianoM.L. (1995). Main and stress-moderating health benefits of leisure. Society and Leisure, 18, 33–52.
5.
CFLRI – Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Institute. (1995). Active living enhances health.The Research File. Ottawa: CFLRI (Ref. #95-08)
6.
CohenS., & WillsT.A. (1985). Stress, support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310–357.
7.
CohenS., & SymeS.L. (Eds.). (1985). Social support and health.San Diego, CA: Academic Press
8.
ColemanD. (1993). Leisure based social support, leisure dispositions and health. Journal of Leisure Research, 25, 350–361.
9.
CombsA. (1972). Educational accountability: Beyond behavioral objectives.Washington, D.C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
10.
CutronaC.E., & RussellD. (1987). The provisions of social relationships and adaptation to stress. In JonesW.H., & PerlmanD. (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (Vol. 1., pp. 37–68). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
11.
EysenckH.J., & EysenckM.W. (1964). Manual of the Eysenck personality inventory, San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
12.
HansonS.J. (1995). Predicting drug and alcohol abuse relapse: The role of stress and social support. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego, California.
13.
HavinghurstR.J. (1950). Developmental tasks and education.New York: Longmans, Green and Co.
14.
HendersonS., ByrneD.G., & Duncan-JonesP. (1981). Neurosis and the social environment.San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
15.
HensleyL.G. (1997). An investigation of the relationship between college student development and alcohol consumption patterns. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The College of William and Mary, Virginia.
16.
HautmanM.A., & HarrisonJ.K. (1982). Health beliefs and practices in a middle-income Anglo-American neighborhood. Advances in Nursing Science, April, 49–64.
17.
IdlerE.L. (1979). Definitions of health and illness and medical sociology. Social Science and Medicine, 13A, 723–731.
18.
Iso-AholaS.E., & ParkC.J. (1996). Leisure-related social support and self-determination as buffers of stress-illness relationship. Journal of Leisure Research, 28(3) 169–187.
19.
LeventhalH., & TomarkenA. (1987). Stress and illness: Perspectives from health psychology. In KaslS.V., & CooperC.L. (Eds.), Stress and health: Issues in research methodology (pp. 27–55). New York: Wiley.
20.
LongB. (1983). Aerobic conditioning and stress reduction: Participation or conditioning?Human Movement Science. In Wankel and Berger (1991), The personal and social benefits of sport and physical activity.
21.
LorrM., & McNairD.M. (1971). The profile of mood states manual.San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
22.
MontelpareW.J., (1990) The relationship between symptom reporting and measures of stimulus detection, stimulus appraisal and stimulus tolerance. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
NewcombM.D., & BentlerP.M. (1987). Self-report methods of assessing health status and health service utilization: A hierarchical confirmatory analysis. Multivariate behavioral research., 22, 415–436.
25.
PennebakerJ.W. (1982). The psychology of physical symptoms.New York: Springer-Verlag.
26.
RookS. (1987). Social support versus companionship: Effects on life stress, loneliness, and evaluations by others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 1132–1147.
27.
RussellD., & CutronaC.E. (1984, August). The provisions of social relationships and adaptation to stress. Paper presented at the 92nd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada.
28.
SellL., & RosbonP. (1998). Perception of college life, emotional well-being and patterns of drug and alcohol use among oxford undergraduates. Oxford Review of Education, 24(2), 235–244.
29.
SmithL.G. (1993). Developmental theories and models for today's changing student populations. NIRSA Journal, Spring, 20–22.
30.
TabachnickB.G., & FidellL.S. (1989). Using multivariate statistics (2nd ed.). New York: Harper Collins.
31.
TeschendorfR.A. (1993). Locus of control, social support, and alcohol use as mediators of stress reported by college freshmen. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Denver, Colorado.
32.
TesslerR., & MechanicD. (1978). Psychological distress and perceived health status. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 254–262.
33.
ThoitsP.A. (1995). Stress, coping, and social support processes: Where are we? What next?Journal of Health and Social Behavior, (extra issue), 53–79.
34.
TodaroE. (1993). Introduction to participant development. NIRSA Journal, Spring, 14–15.
35.
WeissR. (1974). The provisions of social relationships. In RubinZ. (Ed.), Doing unto others (pp. 17–26). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
