Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Krumm, Carolin
• Heinrich, Nils Wendel
• von Haaren-Mack, Birte

Titel

Affective reactions to real-life stressors and the role of physical activity in sports students – An Ambulatory Assessment study

Ist Teil von

• Psychology of sport and exercise, 2023-11, Vol.69, p.102503-102503, Article 102503

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

ScienceDirect Journals (5 years ago - present)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Students are exposed to a variety of stressors that can negatively affect their health and performance. Using an Ambulatory Assessment approach, this study investigated whether and how positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) changed in response to real-life stressors in sports students. In addition, the study investigated how physical activity (PhyA) moderated affective reactions to stressors. 62 participants of a German university (m = 23, f = 38, d = 1; age: M = 21.55 years, SD = 2.47) reported their daily stressors, affective states and PhyA (context, intensity and duration) six times per day via smartphone over five days (30 prompts per participants). To test the hypotheses multilevel models were calculated. Stressor context predicted affective reactions. PA was lower and NA was higher when general (financial problems) or academic (exam periods) stressors were reported. General PhyA had a positive effect on sports students affect (higher PA, lower NA). However, when PhyA was performed in exercise classes within their study program and a stressor was reported, PA decreased. The results showed that certain stressors interact negatively with affective states. Furthermore, the results suggested that PhyA, depending on the context where it occurred, may also induce negative affective changes in this target group of sport students. More studies need to examine how PhyA moderates affective reactions to stressors and examine the influences of context specific PhyA (e.g., type of PhyA) in more detail. •The context is a predictor of affective reactions to stressors in sports students.•Perceived intensity of a stressor, but not the number of stressors, explain affect.•In general, being physically active predicts improved affect in sports students.•Being physically active in the study context under stress may impair affect.