Physical Activity, Social Support, and Psychological Well-Being in University Students: Implications for Health Promotion and Preventive Rehabilitation

Abstract

Physical activity and social support are theoretically recognized as protective factors against psychological disorders and are central components of health promotion and pre-ventive rehabilitation frameworks. However, in students who are actively engaged in sports-based Student Activity Units (UKM), their direct relationship with psychological well-being has not been consistently reported. This study aims to analyze the effect of physical activity and social support on quality of life (QoL) and anxiety in student mem-bers of UKM sports, with implications for lifestyle medicine and functional health promo-tion. This study used a quantitative design with a cross-sectional approach. The sample consisted of 65 active student members of UKM sports at Universitas Pendidikan Indone-sia, selected through proportionate stratified random sampling. Physical activity was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire–Short Form (IPAQ-SF), social support using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), quality of life using the WHOQOL-BREF, and anxiety using the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Hypothesis testing was performed using bootstrap regression analysis (1,000 resamplings; 95% BCa confidence intervals). The results showed that physical activity and social support did not have a statistically significant direct effect on QoL or anxiety (p > 0.05). Despite the positive directional trend between physical activity and QoL and a nega-tive trend toward anxiety, confidence intervals uniformly encompassed zero. These find-ings suggest that in a physically active student population, other factors including aca-demic stress, performance demands, burnout, coping strategies, and emotional regulation may mediate or moderate psychological well-being outcomes. From a preventive rehabili-tation and health promotion perspective, these results underscore the importance of com-prehensive, multidimensional interventions beyond exercise prescription alone, integrat-ing psychosocial support, stress management, and lifestyle medicine approaches to opti-mize functional health among university students