Effects of open- and closed-skill sports on physical fitness, emotional well-being, and perceived stress among university students: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

To examine the effects of open-skill and closed-skill sports on physical fitness, emotional well-being, and perceived stress among university students, and to compare the intervention effects of these two exercise types. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. The study was conducted at a private university in Henan Province, China, and the participants were sophomore students. The participants were assigned to a control group (CG), a closed-skill sports intervention group (IG1), and an open-skill sports intervention group (IG2). Physical fitness, emotional well-being, and perceived stress were assessed before and after the intervention. Physical fitness was evaluated according to the National Student Physical Health Standard (NSPHS). Emotional well-being was measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and perceived stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, the chi-square test, and repeated-measures analysis of variance. Before the intervention, no significant differences were found among the three groups in sex, age, height, weight, BMI, or any of the outcome variables (all p > 0.05), indicating good baseline comparability. After the intervention, physical fitness improved significantly in both IG1 and IG2, and both groups performed better than the CG, although no significant difference was found between the two intervention groups. In terms of emotional well-being, both IG1 and IG2 showed significant increases in positive affect and significant decreases in negative affect, with IG2 demonstrating significantly greater improvements than IG1. For perceived stress, both IG1 and IG2 showed significant reductions, but the effect was most pronounced in IG2, whose post-intervention perceived stress level was significantly lower than that of both IG1 and the CG. Both open-skill and closed-skill sports were effective in improving physical fitness and had positive effects on emotional well-being and perceived stress among university students. Compared with closed-skill sports, open-skill sports showed more pronounced advantages in promoting emotional well-being and reducing perceived stress.