ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1599041
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Cognitive Era in Sports Performance: Mental Fatigue, Cognitive Training, Sleep and Psychological Ergogenic Substances-Volume IIView all 6 articles
The mediating role of sleep quality on the relationship between physical activity and social anxiety disorder among Chinese college freshmen
Provisionally accepted
Yingying Liu
Zizheng NieHaokai DongLinpei ShouJiaoyang XuQinglong CaoYitian ShiChenyang WuMu ZhangJun Yang
Shufen Han*- Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
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Objectives: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) profoundly impacts the well-being of college students, both physically and psychologically. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of sleep quality on the relationship between physical activity and SAD among Chinese college freshmen.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study enrolling 1,408 participants through convenience sampling. Participants self-reported their physical activity, sleep quality, and social anxiety status using an electronic questionnaire.The overall prevalence of SAD was 33.05%. A significant negative association was observed between physical activity and SAD (adjusted β = -0.054, 95% CI: -0.053 to -0.001). Mediation analysis indicated that sleep quality may mediated 24.33% of the association between physical activity and SAD (indirect effect estimate = -0.009, direct effect estimate = -0.028, p < 0.01).Less physical activity is associated with SAD among Chinese college freshmen, and this relationship is partially mediated by poor sleep quality. It is recommended that educational institutions implement programs to promote regular physical exercise and enhance sleep quality to mitigate the impacts of SAD in this population.
Keywords: physical activity 1, social anxiety disorder 2, sleep quality 3, mediation analysis 4, college freshmen 5
Received: 24 Mar 2025; Accepted: 18 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Nie, Dong, Shou, Xu, Cao, Shi, Wu, Zhang, Yang and Han. 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: Shufen Han, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
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