DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1792884/v1
Background: Despite the widespread health benefits of strength training, women are often discouraged to seek this practice due to limiting gender-constructed roles influenced by cultural ideations that resist exaggerated hypertrophy among women. The objectives of this systematic review are two-fold. Primarily, to access and summarize information from existing studies underscoring the effects of regular strength training practice on women’s well-being, published in the last 10 years. Second, to relate the findings of this study with the PERMA model of well-being from positive psychology.
Methods: Two electronic databases were used in this review, namely, Google Scholar and PubMed. The inclusion criteria comprised papers published in English and dated between January 1, 2012, and May 15, 2022, yielding a total of 439 publications. Furthermore, studies were excluded if: no interventions were applied, the results did not focus on female participants, the study lacked variables related to well-being, and the study was not based on strength training. Upon screening for relevance and applicability of the studies based on the abovementioned criteria, 11 publications were selected, and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool (RoB 2.0) was applied to assess the risk of bias.
Results: In total, 457 female participants from the 11 studies were included in this review. And seven studies presented positive effects of strength training on variables related to well-being, while three studies presented no significant changes. The remaining article did not present any significant changes in sense of coherence (SoC) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL); however, it found positive effects for hope, while no negative effects were observed.
Discussion: Literature underscoring the benefits of strength training on women’s happiness is limited. Furthermore, studies that comprised only female participants are also limited, and largely characterized by variations in age, physical health, cultural context, and previous relationship with sports. Moreover, the effects of mental health and well-being are often not prioritized in research, resulting in study designs that have limited use among psychologists and other mental health professionals. Nevertheless, the current review showed that strength training exerts predominantly positive effects on women’s happiness. While some effects were neutral, no negative effects were found. Possible implications of the current paper refer to the stimuli of the prescription of a program of strength training for women aiming to improve overall well-being and to call attention to the need for more scientific research on the topic.