ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1605442
This article is part of the Research TopicPsychological Factors in Physical Education and Sport - Volume VIView all 4 articles
Multiple mediating roles of physical and mental health in the effects of physical exercise on prosocial behavior in junior high school students
Provisionally accepted
- School of Sports Science, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, China
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Objective: To examine the associations between physical exercise and prosocial behavior among junior high school students, and to explore the potential mediating roles of physical and mental health in these associations, providing insights for interventions targeting prosocial behavior.Methods: Using data from the China Education Panel Survey 2014-2015, we analyzed 7,605 junior high school students' self-reported measures of prosocial behavior, physical exercise, and physical and mental health. An OLS regression model was employed to assess associations, and a multiple mediation model (PROCESS Model 4 with 5,000 bootstraps) was used to test indirect effects. Results: Physical exercise was positively associated with prosocial behavior (β = 0.191, p < 0.001), with stronger associations observed among students with highly educated parents (β = 0.184, p < 0.001) and male students (β = 0.178, p < 0.001). Both physical health (β = 0.018, 95% CI [0.012, 0.024], p < 0.001) and mental health (β = 0.009, 95% CI [0.005, 0.013], p < 0.001) showed significant indirect associations in the link between physical exercise and prosocial behavior, with physical health accounting for over twice the indirect association of mental health.Conclusions: Physical and mental health may play mediating roles in the relationship between physical exercise and prosocial behavior among junior high school students. Schools and families should encourage students' participation in physical exercise, which may support their physical and mental well-being and foster prosocial behavior.
Keywords: physical exercise, junior high school students, Prosocial Behavior, physical and mental health, adolescents
Received: 03 Apr 2025; Accepted: 27 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Guo, Jiang and Huang. 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: Liang Jiang, School of Sports Science, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, China
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