Document Type

Thesis

First Faculty Advisor

Ronald Deluga

Second Faculty Advisor

Joseph Trunzo

Keywords

exercise; motivators; mental-health; college students

Publisher

Bryant University

Rights Management

CC-BY

Abstract

This study sets out to determine the impacts of exercising with different motives, specifically external appearance versus internal health, on college students' mental health. The study will also analyze the mental health effects of following fitness-related influencers and content on social media on college-aged students, in addition to the differences in mental health among male and female students in relation to exercise motivators and social media consumption. A survey will be utilized to collect data from undergraduate college-aged students. The goal of this study is to better understand whether certain motives for exercising are healthier for college students' mental health than others, despite the pre-existing notion that exercise is good for one's mental health (Dale et al., 2014). The impact that social media has on particular motivating factors and mental health is also explored in an effort to inform students of the potential threats that particular motivating factors may have on their mental health, via the information source this age group gravitates toward most frequently. The results of this study suggest that participants claimed they were exercising more for health and enjoyment, but they were actually more aware of how their body appears to others as opposed to how it feels and functions. Using appearance as a motivator to exercise was found to be correlated with higher levels of psychological distress and using health and enjoyment as a motivator was found to be correlated with higher levels of positive emotions while exercising. Female participants were found to place a greater emphasis on their appearance and were found to be more likely to use that as a motivator to exercise than male participants. Consuming fitness-related content on social media had a slightly more positive impact on males than females. There are tremendous implications to the present research, including the potential negative physical health effects that the obsession and stress that can accompany trying to achieve a certain external appearance can cause. Socio-cultural expectations are also highlighted throughout the entirety of the study. There is much room for future research on this emerging topic.

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