Effects of 16 Weeks of Cheerleading on Physical Self-Esteem and Mental Health of Female College Students

Chenliang Deng; Qiaoyan Yu; Ganglin Luo; Shuiping Lu

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.925162

Effects of 16 Weeks of Cheerleading on Physical Self-Esteem and Mental Health of Female College Students

Front Psychol. 2022 Jun 10:13:925162. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.925162. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Chenliang Deng¹, Qiaoyan Yu², Ganglin Luo³, Shuiping Lu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Sports Department, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
² School of Gymnastics, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China.
³ Department of Military Education and Training, Police Academy of the Armed Police, Chengdu, China.
⁴ Department of Physical Education, Jinjiang College of Sichuan University, Meishan, China.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the influence of cheerleading on female college students' physical self-esteem and mental health.

Materials and methods: In total, 63 female college students from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China were trained in cheerleading for 16 weeks. The scores of each sub-field of physical self-esteem and psychological symptoms were analyzed by using Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP) and Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), respectively, at 0 and 16 weeks of the experiment.

Results: After 16 weeks of cheerleading exercise, female college students had significant differences in physical attractiveness (T = 4.18), physical quality (T = 4.39), and physical self-worth (T = 3.35) before and after the experiment (P < 0.01). There were significant differences in physical condition (T = 3.87) and athletic ability (T = 2.88) before and after the experiment (P < 0.05). Somatization (T = 6.485), obsessive-compulsive symptoms (T = 11.716), interpersonal sensitivity (T = 10.077), depression (T = 8.403), anxiety (T = 10.767), hostility (T = 10.866), terror (T = 9.260), paranoia (T = 10.414), psychosis (T = 9.610), sleep and eating disorders (T = 9.323), total symptom index (T = 13.245), and mean score of positive symptoms (T = 12.237) were significantly different (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: Cheerleading can significantly improve the level of female college students' physical self-esteem, especially the self-esteem level of physical attractiveness, physical quality, and physical self-worth. They also experienced significant improvement in their psychological disorders, especially somatization, depression, and sleep and eating disorders, which effectively improved their overall mental health.

Keywords: cheerleading; female college students; intervention effect; mental health; physical self-esteem.