An empirical study of physical activity and sports affecting mental health of university students

The influence of exercise self-efficacy and gender on the relationship between exercise motivation and physical activity in college students

This study examined the relationships among exercise motivation, exercise self-efficacy, and physical activity rating, as well as the role of exercise self-efficacy in the above relationship. A survey was conducted among 362 college students (aged 19.0 ± 0.8 years, 185 males and 177 females) from a Chinese college using exercise motivation, self-efficacy, and physical activity assessment scales. The results revealed significant sex differences in exercise motivation, self-efficacy, and physical activity scores. Structural equation analysis revealed that ability motivation had a direct effect, accounting for 41.5% of the total effect, while the mediating effect of exercise self-efficacy accounted for 58.5%. Exercise self-efficacy has been proven to be a key predictor of physical activity in both general analysis and gender stratification analysis. From the results of path analysis, in the overall sample and the male group, the influence intensity of each variable on physical activity is the direct effect of exercise self-efficacy, the mediating effect of exercise self-efficacy and the direct effect of ability motivation. However, different influence patterns were observed in female groups: the direct effect of exercise self-efficacy still ranked first, followed by the direct effect of ability motivation, and finally, the mediating effect of exercise self-efficacy. This finding suggests that gender may be an important variable regulating the relationship between exercise self-efficacy and physical activity. Based on the above findings, this study emphasizes that gender-specific strategies should be adopted when formulating intervention programs for physical activity promotion: for male groups, it should focus on strengthening the cultivation of exercise self-efficacy, while for female groups, it should also focus on the improvement of ability motivation and the establishment of self-efficacy. This study provides an important empirical basis for improving the theory of health behavior promotion.

Beyond the operating room: addressing the "second-victim" phenomenon in surgical practice

Complications are plausible events during surgical operations. Surgical complications profoundly impact surgeons, often called "second victims" of adverse events. These complications trigger a range of emotional and psychological responses, including guilt, anxiety, heightened empathy, and the looming threat of burnout. Moreover, the toll extends to physical health, with chronic stress and sleep disturbances taking their toll. Surgeons' social lives are not immune to the fallout, and their career satisfaction may wane, pushing some towards defensive medicine practices. While mentorship, counselling, and peer support are crucial support mechanisms, they encounter barriers such as time constraints and the fear of negative perceptions. This paper suggests practical recommendations, including comprehensive wellness programmes, a streamlined badge card system for easy access to resources, and mindfulness training to mitigate stress and burnout. Recognising and proactively addressing these multifaceted impacts is imperative for cultivating a resilient medical community capable of providing optimal patient care.

Students' Well-Being and Academic Engagement: A Multivariate Analysis of the Influencing Factors

This paper aims to identify the factors that are positively or negatively impacting students' well-being and their academic engagement. We used partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using the data collected through a questionnaire from four countries: Romania, Turkey, Slovakia, and Bulgaria. The model includes seven factors that influence the well-being of students and indirectly their academic engagement: stressors in the students' lives; professors' support; social support from family and friends; the students' perceived satisfaction in their lives; engaging in activities during their leisure time; self-exploration regarding their careers; and environmental exploration regarding their careers. The results show that all factors, except for stressors and environmental exploration regarding their careers, positively influence the students' well-being and thus their academic engagement. These findings are useful for university professors and managers in better organizing activities to increase academic performance.

Association between physical activity and adolescent mental health in the post COVID-19: The chain mediating effect of self-esteem and social anxiety

BACKGROUND

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between physical activity and adolescent mental health in the post COVID-19 pandemic era, self-esteem and social anxiety were used as mediating variables to explore the potential mechanisms by which physical activity affects adolescent mental health.

METHODS

The study used the HELP-II Health Promoting Lifestyle Scale, the SPIN Social Phobia Scale, the Self-Esteem Scale, and the 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale to administer questionnaires to 400 Chinese secondary school students, and SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS 3.3 were used to process the data.

RESULTS

The findings showed that (1) physical activity was significantly and positively associated with mental health; (2) self-esteem and social anxiety played a fully mediating role between physical activity and adolescent mental health respectively; (3) self-esteem and social anxiety played a chain mediating role between physical activity and adolescent mental health.

CONCLUSION

This study reveals the relationship and influencing mechanism between physical activity and adolescent mental health in the post COVID-19 pandemic era. Appropriate interventions for physical activity, self-esteem, and social anxiety may be beneficial to adolescent mental health. The protective role of self-esteem in adolescent mental health should be the focus of future studies, and further investigations into the association between the COVID-19 and adolescent mental health are warranted.

Influencing Factors and Improvement Path of Academic Engagement among College Students in the Context of Epidemic Prevention and Control

OBJECTIVE

The implementation of online teaching in the context of epidemic prevention and control has had an impact on the learning engagement of college students to some extent. This study aims to investigate the mechanisms that influence perceived social support and health behaviors on learning engagement, so as to make college students more focused on their studies by improving their physical and mental health as well as their ability to perceive social support.

METHODS

A total of 538 college students from Henan Province, China, were studied using the Perceived Social Support Scale, Health Behavior Scale and Learning Engagement Scale, and the data were analyzed by IBM SPSS Amos 26.0 software (IBM SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).

RESULTS

(1) The level of health behavior among college students was positively correlated with perceived social support ability (β = 0.289, p < 0.001); both perceived social support and health behaviors predicted college students' learning engagement significantly (β = 0.200, p < 0.01; β = 0.406, p < 0.001). (2) College students' perceived social support partially mediated the relationship between health behaviors and learning engagement.

CONCLUSION

One of the main ways to improve college students' learning engagement is to improve their health behavior and perceived social support. This study contributes to a better understanding of the relationships between health behaviors and learning engagement, as well as to the development of interventions to improve learning engagement among college students.