Relationship between physical exercise and perceived stress in university students: a cross-sectional study on the chain mediating role of social support and general self-efficacy

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to explore the association between physical exercise and perceived stress among college students and its underlying psychological transmission pathways, and to examine the independent and chain mediating roles of social support and general self-efficacy in this relationship. Methods A cross-sectional study design was adopted, and a questionnaire survey was conducted among 750 college students from 5 universities in a Chinese city. The SPSS macro PROCESS (Model 6) was applied to test the chain mediation model at the 95% confidence interval via 5,000 bootstrap resamplings. Results Physical exercise was significantly and negatively associated with perceived stress (β = −0.367, 95% CI [−0.429, −0.304]). The total indirect effect of social support and general self-efficacy was −0.225 (95% CI [−0.270, −0.185]), accounting for 61.31% of the total effect. Specifically, three indirect pathways were identified: physical exercise → social support → perceived stress (indirect effect = −0.034, 9.26% of the total effect), physical exercise → general self-efficacy → perceived stress (indirect effect = −0.155, 42.23% of the total effect), and the chain mediation pathway of physical exercise → social support → general self-efficacy → perceived stress (indirect effect = −0.036, 9.81% of the total effect). Conclusion College students‘ participation in physical exercise is significantly associated with lower levels of perceived stress, and social support and general self-efficacy play a key chain mediating role in this relationship. This study theoretically reveals the internal psychological mechanism of the association between physical exercise and perceived stress, and provides empirical reference for universities to implement mental health improvement interventions. This study empirically elucidates the possible mechanisms underlying the association between physical exercise and perceived stress, providing empirical reference for intervention practices aimed at improving college students' mental health in higher education settings.