Examining the perceived benefits of intramural sports participation of undergraduate students at Oklahoma State University

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the perceived benefits of intramural sports participation for full-time undergraduate students at Oklahoma State University. The survey instrument used for this study was the Artinger et al. (2006) Social Benefits Questionnaire. Of the 220 participants, 59.1% were male (n=130) and 40.5% were female (n=89) (with one student indicating other) while 64.5% lived off-campus (n=142) and 34.5% lived on-campus in spring of 2016 (n=76). An independent sample t-test revealed there was a significant difference in the perceived benefits between male and female students, t(216) = -2.96, p<0.01, with female students reporting higher mean scores for the social benefits statements than male students. The sum of the female students (n = 89) mean scores was 90.16 (out of a possible 115, SD = 10.712) and the sum of the male students (n=130) mean scores was 85.92 (out of a possible 115, SD = 10.124). An independent sample t-test between male students and female students revealed there were significant differences for six of the social benefits statements. An independent sample t-test showed there was a moderate significant difference between students who lived on-campus and students who lived off-campus, t(215) = -2.09, p<0.05, with students who lived on-campus reporting higher mean scores. An independent sample t-test between students who lived on-campus and students who lived off-campus revealed that there was a significant difference for one of the social benefits statements, "Improves my leadership abilities" t(216) = 1.442, p <0.05. A two-way ANOVA was conducted to determine significant differences in perceived benefits between female students who lived on-campus and female students who lived off-campus. Twelve social benefits statements were considered statistically significant at the p <.05 level or lower. A two-way ANOVA did not report any statistically significant differences between male students who lived on-campus and male students who lived off-campus.