Attitude towards sport and physical activity, self-esteem, life satisfaction relationship and variations in terms of gender: perspective from university students
Abstract
Universities provide a platform for sport and physical activity participation opportunities to
students. For students, participation in sport and physical activity is an important part of
university life which can lead to improved physical and mental health. Positive consequences
such as increased self-esteem and life satisfaction can emanate from participation in sport and
physical activity. University students’ participation in sport and physical activity can be bound by
the social constructions of gender and gender stereotypes. Hence, the purpose of the study was to
examine the relationship among attitude towards sport, self-esteem and life satisfaction of
university students from a gender perspective. A non-probability convenient sample of university
students (from first year to postgraduate) from two universities in the Gauteng Province,
participated in the study. A four-section questionnaire comprising questions on demographic
variables, participants’ attitude towards sport, self-esteem and satisfaction with life was used to
collect data. Cronbach alpha was used to assess the reliability of the attitude to sport scale
(=0.943), self-esteem scale (=0.748) and satisfaction with life scale (=0.804). Correlations
were used to examine the relationship among the constructs. The results of the correlation
analysis showed weak, yet positive association between students’ attitude towards sport and
satisfaction with life. Attitude towards sport and self-esteem showed insignificant associations
with satisfaction with life. The mean ranks indicated that male students seem to be more inclined
to sport compared to their female counterpart. Limitations and areas for future research are
suggested.