A latent profile analysis of subjective exercise experiences among physically vulnerable college students and psychiatric symptoms correlates during three phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China

INTRODUCTION: Physical activity among college students since the COVID-19 pandemic was well studied; however, subjective exercise experience and the emotional response toward physical exercise received less attention. METHODS: The present study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to explore the latent class of subjective exercise experience among physically vulnerable college students who scored 59 points or less in tests under the National Student Physical Health Standard. Three non-duplicated samples at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic were collected in March 2020 (N = 127), March 2021 (N = 118), and November 2021 (N = 206) respectively. Psychometrically validated scales, namely, Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale (SEES), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to measure subjective exercise experience, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: LPA revealed a 3-class solution for the subjective exercise experience of physically unfit students, namely, the “negative experience group” (30.82%), the “fatigue group” (41.91%), and the “positive experience group” (27.27%). Multinomial regression showed that probable anxiety [odds ratio (OR) = 0.12] was associated with the overall negative exercise experience while probable depression (OR = 0.19) was associated with psychological fatigue. Women (OR = 0.496) were more likely to experience overall negative exercise experience, and the outbreak of the COVID- 19 (OR = 2.14) pandemic influenced the psychological distress of the subjective exercise experience compared with the other two phases in the post-COVID- 19 era. Our findings provided significant implications for physical education targeting university students that interventions should be tailored differently for three profiles of the subjective exercise experience.