Influence of Physical Activity Body Mass Index on Perceived Physical Self-Concept among Undergraduate Students of Saudi Arabia

Background: Self-concept is one of the important aspect of our personality. Physical self-concept defined as person's perception of relation to his/her physical skills and outwards appearance. Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare and explore the association of physical activity to physical self-concept of undergraduate students at different levels of Body Mass Index (BMI). Methods: A group of 140 undergraduate students M-age 19 +/- 0.70 years randomly categorized into underweight <18.5 kg/m(2) [n= 37: 26.4%]; normal-weight 18.5-24.9 kg/m(2) [n= 31: 22.1%]; obese >= 30.00 kg/m(2) [n= 37: 26.4 %] and obese class III >= 40.00 kg/m(2) (n= 35: 25%). Physical self-concept measured using PSDQ-S. Physical activity on the basis of duration per week. Results: ANOVA revealed highly significant difference among BMI categories on all the factors of perceived physical self-concept except, health factor (p =0.589). The post hoc comparison showed that obese participants had significantly lower scores on coordination (p < 0.001), physical activity (p < 0.05), sports competence (p < 0.01), appearance (p < 0.001), flexibility (p < 0.001), endurance (p < 0.001), global self-esteem p (< 0.001) and global physical self-concept (p < 0.001). Underweight participants reported significantly lower scores on physical activity (p < 0.001), sports competence (p < 0.05) and strength (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Obese category students were having poor self-concept. Normal-weight students perceived higher physical self-concept and global self-esteem than obese and underweight students. Physical activity has strong association with sports competence, strength, appearance and self-esteem. Students engaged more time in physical activity had better physical self-concept.