The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in psychological well-being (P-WB), fatigue (F) and psychological distress (PD) between scholarship students (SS) and non-scholarship students (N-SS) at UTT. A secondary purpose is to investigate if there are gender effects between the constructs. Lastly, if there were any significant relationships between the constructs.

Participants

Participants were students enrolled in the B.Ed. Physical Education and B.Sc. Sports Studies at UTT. N = 95; males = 43, females = 52. M age = 22.56; s = 4.39.

Hypothesis

H0: There would be no significant differences in P-WB, F, and PD between SS and N-SS.
H1: SS would report higher feelings of F than N-SS.
H2: SS would report higher feelings of PD than N-SS.
H3: Females would report higher feelings of PD than males.
H4: As P-WB increases, F and PD will decrease.

Method

Students were provided with valid instruments that measured the constructs under investigation. Students were told to answer the questions truthfully and their responses would be treated with confidentiality. Questionnaires took about five minutes to complete. Data was analyzed using SPSS 22.
Statistical Analysis: t-test, alpha reliability, correlation coefficient.

Results

Alpha reliability was .84, .89 and .84 for the scales of P-WB, F and PD respectively.
On average N-SS reported higher feelings of P-WB (M = 12.96; s = 3.08) than SS (M = 12.70; s = 3.83). This difference of .26, 95% CI {-1.44 to 1.96} was non-significant t(90) = 2.40, p = .12; effect size = .065.
On average SS reported feelings of higher F than N-SS (M = 14.04, s = 4.08; M = 12.37, s = 4.39). This difference of 1.67, 95% CI {-.34 to 3.68} was non-significant t(90) = 1.65. p = .10; effect size = .14.
All other variables indicated no significant difference between the variables i.e. there were no gender effects between the constructs.
There was a significant negative relationship between P-WB, F and PD such that as P-WB increase, F and PD decrease; r = -.391 and -.413, p = .00 respectively. Additionally, there was a significant and positive relationship between F and PD, such that as F increase, PD increase; r = .255 p = .013.

Discussion:
This study investigated differences between gender, student types and psychological constructs of P-WB, F and PD. No significant differences existed between the categorical variables and the variables of interest; the effect size was small. Despite these non-significant results, SS reported higher feelings of PD and F than their N-SS counterparts. This result is important because PD and F have been shown to have a negative effect on academic performance in SS in D1 schools in North America. Further, fatigue is related to distress, overtraining and burnout. When these feelings and physiological indicators continue unabatedly, they have a positive effect on introjected motivation and attrition rates in sports. Additionally, fatigue negatively predicts focus and concentration and this can have a debilitating effect on students decision making skills in and out of sports. Jackson (2014) reported strong positive relationship between P-WB, intrinsic motivation, and effort; and strong negative relationship with aggression in sports. As an Academy, whose interest is sporting performance and academic achievement, it is important that instructors and coaches aid in facilitating student’s P-WB. This may be achieved by positive reinforcement and creating indices of self-efficacy in students. A next step in this research is to investigate whether these constructs of interest interact with student’s academic achievement, motivation and self-efficacy in sports.