Physical fitness and psychological wellness of Saudi engineering students as related to academic achievement

Abstract EN

The present study was conducted on a stratified random sample of 100 students of the College of Engineering of King Abdulaziz University (KAU), representing the Saudi university students, with the objectives of : (a) studying the impact of students' physical fitness and psychological wellness on their academic achievement, (b) identifying effective related factors improving or limiting students' achievement and, (c) presenting a practical model of optimal physical fitness and psychological wellness for Saudi students.

Data of the study are needed by the planners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to harmonize and optimize the presented services related to the educational process, and to have utmost output of them.

Each of the selected students was interviewed for his health and psychological status, performed intelligence test and subjected to fit-test measurements, followed by testing his academic records and recording his Grade Points Average (GPA).

Analysis of variance for the effect of the tested students' 57 variables on their GPAs revealed highlighting 20 of them as the most influential variables, and further testing the significance of their effects indicated that the main academic effective factors on students’ academic achievement include: students' levels of intelligence and the student's background education of the holy Quran, English language and computer practices; meanwhile, the "relatively exceeding" numbers of courses attended by students through the academic semester have a negative impact on their GPAs.

The need of the students for the university stipend represents the main studied economic factor which has impact on their academic achievement.

The main effective cultural, social and health factors include: the students' involvements in community scientific, cultural and social events, the "favourable" social relations within the family, the "higher families" economic status, and the "favourable" dietary habits.

All these factors might, however, partially have masked the anticipated impact of the students' health fitness on their academic achievement.

Therefore, it has been recommended to further study this subject with widening its scope, and increasing the number of studied students.