Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov 25:15:1411175.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1411175. eCollection 2024.

The mediating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between physical exercise and sense of security among left-behind junior high school students: multi-group comparative analysis of only children and children with siblings

Qifei Xia  1   2 , Qi Liu  3 , Guoyou Qin  4
Affiliations

The mediating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between physical exercise and sense of security among left-behind junior high school students: multi-group comparative analysis of only children and children with siblings

Qifei Xia et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: This study aims to explore the mediating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between physical exercise and the sense of security among junior high school students, with a particular focus on variations based on only-child status.

Methods: A survey was conducted among 649 left-behind junior high school students in Gansu Province, China, utilizing the Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 (PARS-3), Security Questionnaire (SQ), and Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescents (RSCA).

Results: Among the participants, the mean scores for physical exercise, psychological resilience, and sense of security were 40.78 ± 29.49, 51.14 ± 10.08, and 55.75 ± 14.35, respectively. A significant positive correlation was observed between physical exercise and sense of security (r = 0.210, p < 0.01), physical exercise and psychological resilience (r = 0.164, p < 0.01), and psychological resilience and sense of security (r = 0.443, p < 0.01). Mediation analysis revealed that psychological resilience partially mediates the effect of physical exercise on the sense of security, accounting for 33.9% of the total effect. Multi-group analysis indicated significant differences in this mediating effect between only children and children with siblings, with a stronger predictive role of psychological resilience for the sense of security among non-only children.

Conclusion: Participation in physical exercise can promote the improvement of sense of security through the individual power factor of improving the psychological resilience of left-behind junior high school students, and this improvement effect is more significant for non-only children.

Keywords: children with siblings; left-behind junior high school students; only children; physical exercise; psychological resilience; sense of security.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The mediating effect of psychological resilience between physical exercise and left-behind middle school students’ sense of security. ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mediating effect of psychological resilience between physical exercise and sense of security of left-behind junior high school students (lone students). ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The mediating effect of psychological resilience on the relationship between physical activity and left-behind junior high school students’ sense of security (non-alone students). ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Abdulaziz Muhsen T., Abdulaziz Muhsen M. (2020). The impact of physical activity and sport onmental health. J. Phys. Educ. 32, 160–165. doi: 10.37359/jope.v32 - DOI
    1. Al-Qahtani A. M., Shaikh M. A. K., Shaikh I. A. (2018). Exercise as a treatment modality for depression: a narrative review. Alexand. J. Med. 54, 429–435. doi: 10.1016/j.ajme.2018.05.004 - DOI
    1. Belcher B. R., Zink J., Azad A., Campbell C. E., Chakravartti S. P., Herting M. M. (2021). The roles of physical activity, exercise, and fitness in promoting resilience during adolescence: effects on mental well-being and brain development. Biol. Psychiatry Cogn. Neurosci. Neuroimag. 6, 225–237. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.08.005, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bernardon S., Babb K. A., Hakim-Larson J., Gragg M. (2011). Loneliness, attachment, and the perception and use of social support in University students. Can. J. Behav. Sci. 43, 40–51. doi: 10.1037/a0021199 - DOI
    1. Blake J. (1981). The only child in America: prejudice versus performance. Popul. Dev. Rev. 7:43. doi: 10.2307/1972763 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources