How does physical activity improve adolescent resilience? Serial indirect effects via self-efficacy and basic psychological needs

Xuening Li; Jing Wang; Huasen Yu; Yang Liu; Xiaoling Xu; Jiabin Lin; Ning Yang

doi:10.7717/peerj.17059

How does physical activity improve adolescent resilience? Serial indirect effects via self-efficacy and basic psychological needs

PeerJ. 2024 Feb 29:12:e17059. doi: 10.7717/peerj.17059. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Xuening Li^#¹, Jing Wang^#², Huasen Yu³, Yang Liu⁴, Xiaoling Xu⁵, Jiabin Lin⁶, Ning Yang⁷

Affiliations

¹ Brain and Cognition Research Center (CerCo), Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III), Toulouse, CHU Purpan, France.
² School of Physical Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.
³ College of Physical Education and Health, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ School of Physical Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
⁵ Fujian Province Nanping No. 1 High School, Nanping, China.
⁶ School of Physical Education, Changchun Normal University, Changchun, China.
⁷ Institute of Physical Education, Shandong Youth University of Political Science, Ji'nan, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Resilience is vital for improving mental health and well-being during adolescence, which is an important yet vulnerable period. Previous research has indicated that physical activity enhances individual resilience. However, limited studies have examined underlying psychological mechanisms between them. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of physical activity on adolescent resilience via self-efficacy and basic psychological needs.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 1,732 high school students aged 16 to 20 years old (mean age: 16.51 ± 0.77 years), with nearly equal number of boys (47.63%) and girls (52.37%). They each completed the Physical Exercise Questionnaire, Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and Resilience Scale, respectively. A serial indirect model was constructed to examine how physical activity influences resilience.

Results: Structural equation model analysis revealed that physical activity significantly and directly predicted resilience. When self-efficacy and basic psychological needs were included in the model, both direct and indirect effects were observed. Specifically, the positive relationship between physical activity and resilience was partially mediated by self-efficacy and basic psychological needs. In addition, basic psychological needs and self-efficacy were found to serially mediate the direct relathonship between physical activity and resilience.

Conclusions: The present study provides novel theoretical insights into sports psychology by establishing a link between basic psychological needs and self-efficacy. The findings have implications for school administrators and physical education instructors in designing targeted interventions to promote adolescent resilience. These interventions may involve creating supportive environment conductive to fulfilling students' basic psychological needs, implementing strategies to enhance self-efficacy beliefs, and providing opportunities for skill development and mastery experiences in sports and physical activities.

Keywords: Adolescence; Basic psychological needs; Physical activity; Resilience; Self-efficacy.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Cross-Sectional Studies
Exercise
Female
Humans
Male
Resilience, Psychological*
Self Efficacy
Sports*
Young Adult

Grants and funding

The authors received no funding for this work.