Pursuing Sustainable Happiness through Participation in Exercise for South Korean Students: Structural Relationships among Exercise, Mental Health Factors, School Satisfaction, and Happiness

HangUk Cheon and Seijun Lim
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HangUk Cheon: Department of Physical Education, BaeMyeong High School, Seoul 05598, Korea
Seijun Lim: College of Physical Education, KyungHee University, Gyeonggi-do 10315, Korea

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility that exercise participation can be an important factor in the pursuit of sustainable happiness. For this purpose, this study focused on the causal relationships among the frequency of exercise, self-esteem, stress, depression, school satisfaction and degree of happiness in elementary, junior high and high school students (n = 11,132) in South Korea. The data used for this study were collected in 2016 by the National Youth Policy Institute (NYPI) for the “UN convention on the rights of the child.” The results were as follows; firstly, the exercise frequency had a significant causal relationship with self-esteem, stress, school satisfaction and happiness but not with depression. However, it was found that exercise frequency had an indirect effect on depression through stress. In detail, exercise frequency could positively reduce stress, and less stress affects depression. Secondly, there were significant direct or indirect effects on self-esteem, stress, depression, degree of happiness and school satisfaction. Lastly, only depression did not affect school satisfaction and happiness.

Keywords: exercise frequency; self-esteem; stress; depression; school satisfaction; happiness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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