Browsing by Subject "objektiivinen mittaaminen"

Objectives. Anxiety and physical inactivity are associated with significant personal and societal disadvantages worldwide. Previous research suggests that physical activity is associated with decreased symptoms of anxiety among healthy adults, adults with a chronic illness, and individuals diagnosed with an anxiety disorders. Increasing amount of studies also suggests that physical exercise can be an evidenced-based intervention for anxiety symptoms among people with anxiety disorders. Few studies have used direct measures of physical activity instead of self-report measures. The objective of this study was to determine the association between regular physical activity and anxiety and examine if the relationship remains after controlling possible moderating variables, BMI, depression and health status. In addition, the aim was to examine how using self-report measures and direct measures affects to these results. Method. The study sample (n = 284, 54.9 % women, mean age = 54,4 years) was a part of the Midlife Development in the United States follow-up study material. Physical activity was assessed by Actiwatch activity monitoring system and by self-report measures. Anxiety was assessed by the trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The relations between physical activity and anxiety were examined using linear regression. Results and conclusions. There were no significant relationship between physical activity and anxiety. However, low moderate exercise predicted higher anxiety levels almost significantly. This relation didn't remain after controlling the effects of the possible moderating variables, BMI, depression and health status. Relationship between direct and self-report measures of physical activity was weak. Results found in this study are conflicting with the information from previous studies in which significant relationship between physical activity and anxiety has been found. However, small sample size, limitations regarding the measurement tools of physical activity and high mean age of the sample may have influenced these results. In accord with previous studies, these findings suggest that there are some problems regarding the reliability of self-report measures when measuring physical activity. Future research is needed to clarify relations between physical activity and anxiety.