The Role of Physical Activity and Sports as Means for the Development of Psychological Health in University Students

Abstract

It is of great importance to address the role that Physical Education activities and sports practice—basketball in this case—can play in the overall health and particularly the psychological or mental health of university students who engage in these activities systematically, compared to those who do not. Determining these effects from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives allows physical education and sports training teachers to better plan psychophysical workloads for their athletes and students, thereby improving their levels of preparation—an aspect that is significant for the enhancement and maintenance of health.

For this research, three groups of university students were selected: those who engaged in basketball practice, those who systematically participated in physical education, and those who did not engage in either activity. These groups were subjected to a study of a set of psychomotor indicators using a cross-sectional case-control design, during which the participants were measured and evaluated using perceptual techniques, muscle tension tests, simple reaction tests, reaction to moving objects, and other psychomotor techniques. For data processing, the abbreviated statistical model "URBAJ" was used, which allowed for the calculation of the mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, standard error of the mean, the degree of reliability of the results, and group comparisons. The results showed that the participants exposed to the independent variables—basketball practice, sex, and participation in physical education—improved both quantitatively and qualitatively in most psychomotor variables when compared to those who did not participate in these activities.