Fizička aktivnost kao moderator povezanosti parametara zdravlja i kvaliteta života

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether physical activity as a moderator significantly affects the relationship between health and quality of life parameters of respondents of different ages, and to determine whether physical activity as a moderator in respondents of different ages affects the relationship of self-assessed health status, BMI, body image, self-esteem, life satisfaction and quality of life. In addition, the aim was to determine the consistency of statistical significance of differences in quality of life in subjects of different levels of physical activity, also of different ages. Based on these aims, one general and six specific hypotheses were defined. Hypotheses were tested on different subsamples of respondents. The total number of respondents who participated in the research was 1.500 (500 university students, 500 adult high-school students, and 500 full-time employees). The research variables were operationalized with adequate instruments. Statistical techniques for data processing used in the research were descriptive statistics (AS, SD, MIN, MAX, RANGE, SKEWNESS, KURTOSIS), Pearson's correlation coefficient, linear and hierarchical regression analysis (moderating multiple regression). The results show that physical activity of different levels of intensity is a statistically significant moderator of certain relations of health parameters and domains of quality of life. When considering the domains of quality of life, in the domain of physical health, high-intensity physical activity moderated the largest number of achieved moderating effects (60%). In the domain of mental health, high-intensity physical activity also achieved the highest number of moderating effects (75%). In the domain of the social relation, high-intensity physical activity and low-intensity physical activity achieved the same number of moderating effects (44.5%). In the environmental domain of quality of life, the highest number of moderating effects was recorded by low-intensity physical activity (41.7%), followed by high-intensity physical activity (33.3%). If all the observed parameters of health are taken into account, physical activity has proven to be the most important moderator of the relationship between body image and all domains of quality of life. This effect of physical activity is most pronounced in the sub-sample of students. When analyzing the relations between self-esteem and quality of life, physical activity is a moderator only in the domain of physical health, among students and the working population, while in other domains it is not. When observing the relationship between life satisfaction and quality of life, high-intensity physical activity moderates statistically significantly their relations only in a subsample of students, while in students and the working population there is no moderating effect of physical activity. If subsamples of respondents are observed, physical activity of all levels of intensity has the greatest impact on the relationship between all individual parameters of health and quality of life in the working population, and least in the sample of students. From all the above, it can be concluded that high-intensity physical activity moderates almost half of the achieved moderating effects, in relation to different parameters of health and the domain of life. Exercising high- intensity physical activity in adults of different ages can significantly affect their quality of life.