Exercise enjoyment and depressive symptoms for university students in a mental health service: An intensive repeated measures study

Structured exercise programs for university students experiencing mental distress are underused, with limited research evidence regarding the links between exercise experiences and health indicators in these contexts. We sought to examine the between- and within-person associations between exercise enjoyment, depressive symptomatology, self-esteem, and perceptions of physical health for participants in a 12-week, on-campus, referral-based exercise program. Using an intensive repeated measures design, fortnightly over a 12-week period, participants (n = 93, Mage = 22.97, 69% female) self-reported perceptions of exercise enjoyment, and perceived health outcomes. There were 83% (n = 77) of participants who completed at least 2 assessments, 60% (n = 55) completed 4 or more assessments, and 40% (n = 37) completed 5 or 6 assessments. Multilevel modelling was used to test associations between variables at both between- and within-person levels. Depressive symptomatology decreased, while self-esteem and perceived physical health increased over time in the program. Students who, on average, reported relatively higher levels of exercise enjoyment had lower depressive symptomatology, higher self-esteem and perceived physical health (i.e., between-person associations). At times when students reported high levels of exercise enjoyment relative to their own average, this coincided with lower depressive symptomatology, and higher self-esteem and perceived physical health (i.e., within-person associations). These findings emphasise the value of incorporating program elements supportive of participants’ exercise enjoyment.