How Does Physical Activity Enhance the Subjective Well-Being of University Students? A Chain Mediation of Cognitive Reappraisal and Resilience

• Published in: Behavioral sciences Vol. 14; no. 3; p. 164
• Main Authors: Yang, Mengmeng, Wu, Ji, Wu, Yigang, Li, Xinxing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22-02-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Adaptation; Anxiety; chain-mediation model; cognitive reappraisal; College students; Emotions; Exercise; Hypotheses; Mediation; Mental depression; Mental health; physical activity; Physiology; Psychological aspects; Quality of life; resilience; subjective well-being; University students; China; cognitive reappraisal; resilience; chain-mediation model; subjective well-being; physical activity
• ISSN: 2076-328X; 2076-328X
• DOI: 10.3390/bs14030164

Regular physical activity is an effective means to enhance university students' subjective well-being. However, current research needs to understand how physical activity enhances the subjective well-being of Chinese university students. Therefore, the study investigated the mechanism of physical activity's impact on university students' subjective well-being and the mediating roles of cognitive reappraisal and resilience in this mechanism.
The physical activity scale, subjective well-being scale, cognitive reappraisal scale and resilience scale were used to investigate 1350 university students, and the relationship between physical activity, cognitive reappraisal, resilience and university students' subjective well-being was verified through correlation analysis, regression analysis and a Bootstrap method.
(1) There is a significant positive correlation between physical activity, cognitive reappraisal, resilience and university students' subjective well-being (
< 0.01); (2) physical activity, cognitive reappraisal and resilience all have a significant positive effects on university students' subjective well-being (
< 0.01); (3) cognitive reappraisal and resilience have significant mediating roles in the process of physical activity affecting university students' well-being, with mediating-effect values of 0.052 and 0.285; (4) the chain-mediating role of cognitive reappraisal and resilience in the process of physical activity affecting university students' well-being is significant, with the chain-mediating effect value of 0.062.
Promoting university students' participation in physical activity not only directly enhances university students' subjective well-being but also indirectly improves university students' subjective well-being through cognitive reappraisal and resilience.