The Relationship Between Physical Exercise and Aggressive Behavior Among College Students: The Mediating Roles of Life Satisfaction, Meaning in Life, and Depression

Feiyang Liu; Huicun Duan; Yongqing Hou; Bohua Zhang; Jinlong Wu; Liya Guo

doi:10.2147/PRBM.S450326

The Relationship Between Physical Exercise and Aggressive Behavior Among College Students: The Mediating Roles of Life Satisfaction, Meaning in Life, and Depression

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2024 Jan 26:17:305-315. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S450326. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Feiyang Liu¹, Huicun Duan², Yongqing Hou³, Bohua Zhang³, Jinlong Wu¹, Liya Guo¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Physical Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
² Research Center of Psychology and Social Development, Southwest University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
³ Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Purpose: The deleterious impact of aggressive behavior on college students necessitates urgent mitigation. To explore the influencing factors and underlying mechanisms of aggressive behaviors among college students, this study aims to validate the mediating roles of life satisfaction, meaning in life, and depression by examining the relationship between physical exercise and aggressive behaviors among college students.

Methods: The Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 (PARS-3), Satisfaction with Life Scale, Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Chinese Version DASS-21 and 12-item Perception of Aggression Scale (POAS) were tested on 1596 college students from three universities in western China, and SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.3 were used for analysis.

Results: Physical exercise exhibited a significant negative correlation with both aggressive behaviors and depression among college students (r = -0.57, P < 0.001; r = -0.36, P < 0.001), as well as a significant positive correlation with life satisfaction and meaning in life (r = 0.45, P < 0.001; r = 0.27, P < 0.001). Regarding the impact of physical exercise on aggressive behaviors among college students, the mediating effects of life satisfaction, meaning in life, and depression were significant. The respective effect sizes were -0.11, -0.08, and -0.03. The chain mediation effect of life satisfaction through depression was also found to be significant, with an effect size of -0.02.

Conclusion: This study elucidates the mechanistic pathways through which physical exercise influences aggressive behavior among college students. The relationship between physical exercise and aggressive behavior is influenced by the individual mediating effects of life satisfaction, meaning in life, and depression, as well as the chain mediation effect of life satisfaction through depression. These findings provide a novel perspective on the prevention and intervention of aggressive behaviors among college students in China and potentially worldwide. This suggests that more attention should be paid to the organic combination of students' physical activity and mental health education.

Keywords: aggressive behavior; depression; life satisfaction; meaning in life; physical exercise.