An examination of university students' behavioral regulation inexercise, social physique anxiety, and happiness levels

The purpose of this study is to examine university students' levels of behavioral regulation in exercise, social physique anxiety, and happiness. In line with this objective, the study investigated students' exercise engagement levels, behavioral regulation levels, happiness levels, and social physique anxiety levels in terms of their exercise status, gender, age, faculty, exercise history, and weekly exercise frequency. A total of 1,068 students, comprising 310 males and 758 females, voluntarily participated in the research. Data were collected through a personal information form, the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-3 (BREQ-3), the short form of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ-SF), and the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS). For data analysis, descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation analysis, and LSD post-hoc tests were utilized to determine the sources of differences. The analyses revealed that students who exercised had lower social physique anxiety levels and higher happiness levels compared to those who did not exercise. Additionally, female students and those aged 18–20 had higher social physique anxiety levels than male students and those aged 21 and over. The findings also indicated that students' social physique anxiety levels were negatively correlated with the intrinsic, integrated, identified, and introjected regulation subscales of BREQ-3, whereas a positive correlation was observed with external regulation and amotivation (p<0.01). Concerning students' happiness levels, a significant positive correlation emerged with intrinsic, integrated, and identified regulation (p<0.01), while no significant relationship was found with introjected regulation, external regulation, or amotivation (p>0.05). Moreover, no significant differences were detected in students' mean happiness scores based on gender or age (p>0.05), and no significant differences were observed in both social physique anxiety and happiness levels with respect to faculty (p>0.05). In conclusion, the findings indicate that students who engage in regular exercise exhibit lower social physique anxiety and higher happiness levels than those who do not exercise. These results suggest that regular exercise may contribute to reducing social physique anxiety and enhancing happiness. In order to increase participation in exercise and ensure its continuity so that it becomes habitual, it is recommended that relevant institutions and organizations expand both the number and frequency of sporting events, and that university campuses allocate physical spaces for exercise and sports activities.