Makayla Carney

Author: Makayla Carney | Majors: Kinesiology and Exercise Science

My name is Makayla Carney, and I am a graduating senior in the College of Education and Health Professions majoring in Kinesiology-Exercise Science and minoring in Psychology. My research for the Fall 2021 semester was conducted under Dr. Kaitlin Gallagher with help from Dr. Erin Howie Hickey from the department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation. I am graduating Cum Laude from the University of Arkansas this fall and plan to continue my education at the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Baylor University come January 2022.

My research searches for the relationship between musculoskeletal pain, mood disorders, physical activity, and sleep in adults aged 18-29 years old. As most college students fit in this age category and are experiencing similar high stress, fast paced environments, the topic of mental health becomes just as important as physical health. This research looks for the connections between physical and mental health in hopes to highlight the importance of both.

Choosing my mentor and topic stemmed from taking Dr. Gallagher’s Mechanics of Human Movement class. This was one of the first major related classes I took in undergrad, and it remains one of the most interesting and informative classes I have taken thus far. Because of my interest, I approached Dr. Gallagher after class one day and asked about her research and ways I could get involved. She connected me with one of her graduate students who I ended up assisting in her graduate research project. From there, further correspondence with Dr. Gallagher lead to her becoming my research mentor! Dr. Gallagher was very good at suggesting ideas for projects based on my personal interests. Because I had an interest in physical activity and psychology, the idea for connecting the relationship between the two resulted in the formation of my research topic! By digging into the current literature, I have learned that there are many studies that have investigated the relationship between physical and mental health, but not much research has been done on the specific 18–29-year-old age group. Something important that I have taken from reading previous studies and conducting my own is that I can apply my findings in my own life. Specifically, due to the interconnectedness between all of these variables, I have learned that by changing one bad habit, for example, staying up all night, I could possibly trigger a domino effect of positive changes in my life, and I think that is an important lesson to learn as a college student and as a human in general.

Some challenges that I experienced while doing my research was the lack of time. Because I am graduating early, the project was sort of fast-tracked. I couldn’t get final data until the middle of the semester, so analyzing and interpreting the data was difficult to do in such a short period of time. Thankfully, I had help from both Dr. Gallagher and Dr. Howie. Weekly meetings with Dr. Gallagher were put in place to help guide me through my outline, and statistical analysis help from Dr. Howie helped me to interpret tables and graphs. The next steps for this project are exciting! I am currently writing up my research as a manuscript to be published in a journal. I look forward to finishing it and seeing future research stem from these topics.