ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1567122
This article is part of the Research TopicPsychological Factors in Physical Education and Sport - Volume VView all 31 articles
The influence of interpersonal relationships on college students' physical activity: chain-mediated effects of social support and exercise motivation
Provisionally accepted
- Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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While interpersonal relationships are known to benefit psychological health and p ersonal development, their role in shaping physical activity behaviors among university students has yet to be thoroughly investigated. Gaining insight into the mechanisms linking these relationships to physical activity is crucial for developing effective strategies to encourage more active lifestyles in th is demographic.This study seeks to investigate how interpersonal relationships affect physical activit y in university students, with a particular focus on the sequential mediating roles of social support an d motivation to exercise. The findings are intended to inform theory and guide the design of practical interventions to enhance physical activity among this population.A total of 635 university students were surveyed using a random sampling approach an d a set of validated instruments, including the Comprehensive Diagnostic Scale for Interpersonal Rel ationships, the Physical Activity Motivation Scale, the Social Support Scale for Physical Activity, an d the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire . Data analysis was conducted with SPSS 27.0, employing methods such as independent sample t-tests, one-way Pearson correlation analysis, Harman's single-factor test to check for common method bias, and bootstrapped mediation testing using the PROCESS macro. RESULTS:Interpersonal relationships were found to significantly influence university students' phys ical activity, with this effect partially explained by the sequential mediation of social support and mot ivation to exercise. More specifically, interpersonal relationships were negatively associated with bot h social support and exercise motivation (β = -0.097, p = 0.014; β = -0.126, p = 0.001), whereas socia l support was positively associated with motivation to exercise (β = 0.316, p < 0.001). When all varia bles were included in the model, both social support and exercise motivation showed significant posit ive effects on physical activity levels (β = 0.241, p < 0.001; β = 0.127, p = 0.002). Mediation analysis further revealed a significant total indirect effect (value = -0.091) of social support and motivation to exercise on the relationship between interpersonal relationships and physical activity, with all three p athways
Keywords: Interpersonal relationships1, physical activity2, social support3, exercise motivation4, Chain-mediated effects5
Received: 26 Jan 2025; Accepted: 02 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Tao, Wang, LV and Cheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yuliu Tao, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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