title: Exercise and self-esteem: rationale and model.
abstract: Positive emotional and psychological benefits are commonly believed to result from chronic physical exercise. While reviews of research have failed to substantiate this general proposition, they have identified enhanced self-esteem as an empirically supported exercise outcome. Unfortunately, research in this area has tended to be simplistic in self-esteem theory and measurement and has remained incapable of addressing how or why change may occur. This paper summarizes pertinent self-esteem theory and presents an empirically based rationale for self-esteem enhancement through exercise participation. It constructs a model for examining exercise and self-esteem interactions in which components of self-structure are hierarchically organized on a basis of generality. The self-esteem model contains dimensions of competence and self-acceptance, and it is operationally defined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, Health and Recreation, University of Rhode Island, Kingston 02881.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Sonstroem
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012649:Self Concept