This study will investigate the relationship between sedentary behaviour and subjective well-being among a sample of university students. Eligible participants will fill out an online survey with questions assessing their sedentary behaviour, physical activity, subjective well-being, life satisfaction, depression, anxiety, and demographic variables.
An electronic survey will be used to assess outcomes of interest (i.e., demographics, sedentary behaviour and physical activity history, subjective well-being, life satisfaction, depression, and anxiety). The survey will be created and hosted on SoSci Survey. Interested participants will contact the investigators and will be sent a personal link to access the survey. Upon following the link, participants will answer inclusion/exclusion criteria and give electronic consent. Upon confirming consent and eligibility, participants will complete the survey. Upon completion of the survey, participants will be thanked and offered an entry into a draw.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
1,006
Online questionnaire assessing sedentary behaviour, physical activity, subjective well-being, life satisfaction, depression, anxiety, and demographics
Exercise and Health Psychology Lab
London, Ontario, Canada
Subjective Well-Being (Affect)
Subjective Well-Being (specifically, affect) will be assessed through the Positive Affect \& Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). The PANAS consists of a number of words that describe different feelings and emotions. Participants indicate the extent to which they feel a particular feeling and emotion over the past week, using a 5-point scale that ranges from 1 "very slightly or not at all" to 5 "extremely". An overall score for both positive and negative affect is calculated by summing up the points for those particular feelings/emotions (e.g., interested for positive affect, distressed for negative affect). Scores for positive affect can range from 10-50, with higher scores representing higher levels of positive affect. Scores for negative affect can range from 10-50, with lower scores representing lower levels of negative affect.
Time frame: Baseline
Subjective Well-Being (Life Satisfaction)
Subjective Well-Being (specifically, life satisfaction) will be assessed through the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS); a 5-item scale designed to measure global cognitive judgments of one's life satisfaction. Participants indicate how much they agree or disagree with each of the 5-items over the past week, using a 7-point scale that ranges from 7 "strongly agree" to 1 "strongly disagree". An overall score (from 5 to 35) is calculated through summing the responses to the 5-items. Recommended cutoffs for interpretation are: 5-9, extremely dissatisfied; 10-14, dissatisfied; 15-19, slightly dissatisfied; 20, neutral; 21-25, slightly satisfied; 26-30, satisfied; 31-35, very satisfied.
Time frame: Baseline
Subjective Well-Being
Subjective Well-Being will be assessed through the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS). The WEMWBS consists of 14-items that assesses subjective well-being through both hedonic and eudaimonic dimensions of well-being. Participants select the option that best describes their experience with each of the 14-items over the last week (note: the original questionnaire assesses the last two weeks), using a 5-point scale that ranges from 1 "none of the time" to 5 "all of the time". A total score is calculated by summing the 14 individual statement scores. The minimum score is 14 and the maximum is 70, with higher scores indicating greater levels of subjective well-being.
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Time frame: Past seven days
Physical Activity
Average total weekday and weekend time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activities in the last 7 days will be assessed through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Seven - Short Form Past 7 Days (IPAQ-S7S). Participants report how many days per week (0-7) and how many hours/minutes per day they spent engaged in vigorous and moderate intensity physical activity, as well as walking.
Time frame: Past seven days
Sedentary Behaviour
Average weekday and weekend domain-specific time spent sedentary over the past 7 days will be assessed through the modified SIT-Q 7d questionnaire. Participants indicate on a scale of responses the range of times that best correspond to the average amount of time they spent sedentary on weekdays/weekends in domains of: Sleeping and Napping, Meals, Transportation, Occupation(s), Screen Time, and Other Activities, during the past 7 days. Response ranges typically span 30 minutes to 1 hour (e.g., Less than 30 minutes, 1-2 hours). Average total sitting time per weekday will be assessed through a single question on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Seven - Short Form Past 7 Days (IPAQ-S7S): "During the last 7 days, how much time did you spend sitting on a weekday?"
Time frame: Past seven days
Depression
Depressive symptomatology will be assessed through the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The CES-D scale is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. Participants indicate how often in the past week they have felt or behaved for each of the 20 feelings/behaviors in the scale. Options range from: rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day), some or little of the time (1-2 days), occasionally or a moderate amount of time (3-5 days), and most or all of the time (5-7 days). These options correspond to a score of either: 0, 1, 2, or 3, depending on the framing of the question. A total score is achieved through summing the scores for all 20 questions; scores range from 0-60, with lower scores indicating a lower symptomatomology for depression. A clinical cut-off point of 20 has been recommended.
Time frame: Past seven days
Anxiety (State)
State anxiety will be assessed through the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Form Y-1. Participants read each of the 20 statements and then write the number in the blank at the end of the statement that indicates how they feel right now (i.e., at this moment). Responses range from: 1 - not at all, to 4 - very much so; these response correspond to a score of 1-4 for anxiety-related items, and 4-1 for anxiety-absent items. A total score is obtained by summing the scores for each question. Total scores range from 20-80, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety. A cut point of 39-40 has been suggested to detect clinically significant symptoms for the State Anxiety scale.
Time frame: Baseline