Aerobic fitness and stress perception

The purpose of this study was to determine if low, moderate, and high fit males and females would rate stressful life events with different intensities. Healthy volunteer college students (N = 60) were placed into one of six cells based on 1.5 mile run time and gender: (a) low fit males, (b) moderate fit males, (c) high fit males, (d) low fit females, (e) moderate fit females, and (f) high fit females. Stress perception was quantified by a "Perception of Stress" questionnaire assessing original and present stress for experienced events and projected stress for events not experienced. The questionnaire consisted of questions related to school, work, love and marriage, having children, family, residence, crime and legal matters, finances, and miscellaneous events. All ratings were based on a scale of 0-10, with 0 representing no stress and 10 representing very, very high stress. The results of the study indicated that females rated stressful life events significantly higher than males and that students with low and moderate levels of fitness had significantly higher stress ratings than those with the highest aerobic fitness level. The moderate fit subjects had significantly lower original stress ratings but were not significantly different on present and projected stress than the low fit subjects. In general there were no interactions between fitness and gender levels. However, females had a significantly greater decrease in ratings of stress events from the occurrence of the events until the present time.