The Effects of Physical Activity on Self-Esteem: A Comparative Study

Background Exercise is a way to improve self-esteem. Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of eight weeks of aerobic exercise on the self-esteem of medical students at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Patients and Methods This study used a 58-item Coopersmith inventory to measure the self-esteem of 84 male students who participated in an exercise program as an intervention. Both dependent and independent t-tests, as well as a chi square test, were applied using SPSS software. Results The results showed that although the self-esteem average score was not significant before the intervention, it increased significantly in the experimental group. In the experimental group, the variation in the meanself-esteem score was 32.36–42.89 before and after the intervention. Conclusions Our findings revealed that aerobic exercise increases self-esteem. An improvement in educational, family, social, and general self-esteem scores was seen only in the experimental group.