The effects of exercise on state anxiety prior to university examinations

The current research attempted to find if long-term involvement in an exercise program decreased state anxiety in university-aged participants. This research examined the influence of exercise on examination anxiety in undergraduate university students. The hypothesis included an expectation to see a smaller level of state anxiety in the exercising participants prior to exams, compared to low or non-exercising participants. The Competitive Sport Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2) and the Aerobics Centre Longitudinal Study Physical Activity Questionnaire (ACLS) were handed out immediately prior to the writing of the end of term examinations. 224 undergraduate Kinesiology students participated in this study. A multiple regression was performed on the data for the CSAI-2 and the METS values, from the ACLS, to determine if there was a relationship between anxiety and amount of exercise. The analysis showed no significant relationships between exercise and anxiety. An analysis of variance using the total score on the METS exercise and the cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence scores on the CSAI-2 showed that the amount of exercise did not have a significant effect on anxiety levels. This indicates that there is no relationship between the level of exercise that an individual performs and the level of somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety or self-confidence that an individual experiences prior to examinations.