Effects of a 12-week resistance exercise program on physical self-perceptions in college students.

Res Q Exerc Sport

Department of Public Health, East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine, Greenville, NC 27834, USA.

Published: June 2011

AI Article Synopsis

  • Exercise can enhance physical self-perceptions and global self-esteem, as supported by recent literature.
  • The study utilized the Exercise and Self-Esteem Model to analyze how cognitive factors (like competence and ideal self) contribute to these changes in self-perception among 120 college students participating in a 12-week resistance training program.
  • Findings revealed significant improvements in self-perception across various levels of the model, with greater changes in physical self-worth compared to overall self-esteem, emphasizing the importance of cognitive aspects in understanding exercise's impact on self-esteem.

Article Abstract

There is an increase in literature suggesting exercise can promote positive changes in physical self-perceptions that can manifest as an increase in global self-esteem. In the present study, we assessed self-esteem using the hierarchical framework of the Exercise and Self-Esteem Model (EXSEM) along with cognitive facets at the subdomain level (e.g., competence, certainty, importance, and ideal self-discrepancy). This allowed for an analysis of cognitive facets as possible contributors to changes in physical self-perceptions. We addressed these aims with a sample of 120 college-age adults who completed a 12-week resistance exercise program. Results indicated significant improvements in self-perception constructs at all levels of the EXSEM. The hierarchical structure of the EXSEM was partially supported, as we observed successively smaller improvements at each level of the model (e.g., self-esteem showed lesser improvements than physical self-worth). In addition, a path model developed to explain the impact of strength changes on self-esteem proved a good fit for the data. Results are discussed in terms of contemporary models of self-perception, potential mediators of exercise on self-esteem, and the need to consider cognitive facets of self-perception.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2011.10599757DOI Listing

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