Mental Health: Comp. Study of Players vs Non-Players - Essay Sample

Introduction

Raut Tanuja and Ahmad, in their article 'a comparative study of mental health status between players and non-players' use students as a population to analyze the effects of exercise on mental health. The study uses a sample size of 20 students in both groups of students. In the study, six variables are used to assess the effects of exercise and lack of exercise on the mental health of the students. The variables used include anxiety, depression, positive affect, emotional ties, life satisfaction and loss of behaviour. The article uses mean of the students to obtain a statistical 't' test which is used to analyze the similarities between the two groups of students using a 0.05 significance level (Raut Tanuja & Ahmad 2015). The statistical method used enabled the study to meet its objectives. The article also followed the right steps in testing the hypothesis. This article aims to critique the article by acknowledging the things which were rightly executed and those that would have been done differently to get better and accurate results.

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Through this article, the authors are trying to find the relationship which exists between mental health and exercise. Does exercise contribute to the mental health of an individual? What are the effects of the right mental health of an individual? The authors try to answer these questions through the study. The hypothesis the authors are trying to confirm is that exercise results in good mental health. In addition, exercise results in some desirable characteristics of an individual which includes emotional ties, life satisfaction and positive affect. Exercise also help an individual avoid anxiety, depression and loss of behaviour. The article addresses the issues being investigated, and the data collected are statistically analyzed, contributing to the ease in their interpretation. Through the calculation of 't' values, good comparisons can be obtained between the variables making the reader have an easy time interpreting the data. In the study, exercise is represented by the players and lack of exercise is represented by the non-players.

For the statistical analysis, the study obtains means from the data collected. The mean is further used to obtain standard deviation and mean deviation. These are further used to calculate for 't' values which represent the similarities between players and non-players. The study uses a 0.05 significance level to compare the similarities. The statistical analyses used are suitable for the study resulting in proper analysis; hence the right findings are obtained from the data. For better results, I would have added more variables to enable me to assess more areas of the students' lives. I would have added the students' engagement in other activities such as leadership and indiscipline as variables to enable me to get a clear picture of the impacts of exercise on the individuals. I would also add class performance as a variable. The students' achievements will also help in analyzing their mental health. Any relationship between performance and exercise will help in making suitable recommendations to boost class performances.

The results of the study found that players recorded excellent means in variables such as positive affect, emotional ties and life satisfaction. On the other hand, non-players had great means in anxiety, depression and loss of behaviour. These show that exercises had positive impacts on the mental health of the players. Through training, the players were able to avoid negative mental statuses which were majorly recorded among non-players. From the statistical analysis of the data at a significant level of 0.05, it was clear that five variables were significantly different between the two groups of students. These variables included positive affect, anxiety, depression, emotional ties and loss of behaviour. Only life satisfaction was not significantly different among the two groups of students. It is therefore right to say that exercise does not affect life satisfaction but affects the other variables which were used in the study.

If I was the one conducting the study, I would have used more variables in assessing the effects of exercise on individuals. The many variables would have given me the opportunity to get more information on the impacts of exercise on an individual. I would have also used a larger number of students for the study. The large sample number will reduce the error which may occur during the study; hence I would have produced a more accurate result. The findings of the study are instrumental in further studies which analyzes the effects of exercise on the mental health of an individual. I can use the findings to advise people struggling with issues like depression and anxiety. With the results, I can confidently prescribe exercise as good medicine for their problems. As a psychologist, the task would be one of my significant prescriptions for ensuring good mental health among my patients (Mikkelsen et al., 2017).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the article adequately analyzed the effects of exercise on the mental health of individuals. The data obtained from the players and non-players gave a clear indication showing the effects of exercise on mental health. The players had better mental health than the non-players showing the importance of exercise on an individual. However, the article did not use the appropriate sample size, and the variables were also not enough to give an accurate result. Using more variables would have enabled the study to make a more accurate and constructive finding. Apart from the sample size and the number of variables used, the other parts of the study were appropriately done.

References

Mikkelsen, K., Stojanovska, L., Polenakovic, M., Bosevski, M., & Apostolopoulos, V. (2017). Exercise and mental health. Maturitas, 106, 48-56.

Raut Tanuja, S., & Ahmad, B. T. (2015). A comparative study of mental health status between players and non-players. International Journal of Sports Sciences & Fitness, 5(1).