Working women’s perceptions of participation in physical activity and the relationship with life satisfaction

Abstract

Participation in physical activity helps one to address and reduce health risk behaviours thereby improving the quality of one’s life. The current study explored the relationship between satisfaction with life and working women’s perception of their participation in physical activity in the Gauteng Province, South Africa. Using a quantitative research method, 350 questionnaires were administrated to a purposive sample of working women who worked an average of eight hours per day, five days a week in corporate organizations. An independent t-test was used to determine significant differences in the demographic characteristics of working women and multiple linear regression was used to determine whether a  relationship between satisfaction with life and the dimensions of physical activity exists. The study concluded that a healthy lifestyle and  socialisation through participation in physical activity are important to working women and contributes to their satisfaction with life. Therefore women, in general, are encouraged to participate in physical activity to experience the benefits of participating in physical activity so that they live a healthy life and to make provision for time to socialise with friends and family.