Physical activity as a mediator of stress, anxiety and depression on well-being in physical education teachers

Abstract

The teaching profession is currently at high psychological risk, with a large number of teachers showing high levels of anxiety, depression and stress. It has been shown that through the practice of physical activity the occurrence of these disruptive states can be prevented. The main purpose of this research is to develop and evaluate a multi-group equation model of the effect of anxiety, depression and stress on psychological well-being as a function of weekly physical activity time. An ex post facto, descriptive and comparative study is presented in a sample of 4117 teachers. The instruments used for data collection were the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, the Psychological Well-being Scale and a questionnaire to collect socio-demographic variables. The results show that leading an active lifestyle helps to reduce the effect of anxiety, depression and stress on well-being. The conclusion is that being physically active helps to reduce the effect of disruptive states on well-being.