Examination of the relationship between physical activity level and wellness of students studying at private and state universities

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between physical activity level and wellness of students studying at the private and state universities. A total of 622 students, including 350 students from the private university and 272 students from the state university, participated in the study as volunteers. Personal Information Form was used to determine the demographic characteristics of the students, and the International Physical Activity Short Form (IPAQ) was used to determine the levels of physical activity. Wellness Self Perceptions Scale was used for wellness scores. The SPSS 21.0 program was used to analyse the data. Since it was determined that the scores showed normal distribution in the normality test, two independent sample tests were used to compare the wellness scores by school type and gender; One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare by physical activity level. The confidence interval was determined as 95% (significance level 0.05 p<0.05). 55.5% of the students participating in the study were male, 44.5% were female, and the average age was 24.23±3.12. Students were identified to have a high level of emotional, mental, physical, social, spiritual and wellness self-perception total score. 49% of students engage in intense physical activities. It has been determined that emotional, mental, physical, social, spiritual wellness sub-dimensions and total wellness score differ significantly according to the type of school. 48.3% of students at private universities and 45.6% of students at state universities have a high level of physical activity. It was determined that the physical activity level of the students did not differ significantly from the type of university they study at (p> 0.05). The emotional, mental, physical, social and spiritual wellness sub-dimensions and wellness total scores of the students with medium and high physical activity levels are significantly higher than those of the students with low physical activity levels. The total scores of physical, social, spiritual wellness and wellness of male students are significantly higher than those of female students. Male students have a higher level of physical activity than female students.Keywords: Physical Activity, Wellness, University