ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1624998
This article is part of the Research TopicTowards a Psychophysiological Approach in Physical Activity, Exercise, and Sports-Volume VView all 3 articles
The relationship of physical exercise and suicidal ideation among college students: a moderated chain mediation model
Provisionally accepted
Jinrui Zhou
Feng Sun*- Nantong University, Nantong, China
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Background: This study examines the impact of physical exercise on college students’ perceived social support, meaning in life, and suicidal ideation.Methods: A total of 545 Chinese college students completed the Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 (PARS-3), Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), and Self-rating Idea of Suicide Scale (SIOSS). A bias-corrected percentile bootstrap approach was applied to assess the sequential mediating effects of perceived social support and meaning in life on the relationship between physical exercise and suicidal ideation.Results: (1) Physical exercise and suicidal ideation were negatively correlated(r=-0.296, p<0.01). A significant direct effect of physical exercise on suicidal ideation was also detected (β=-0.154, t=-7.317, p<0.01). (2) Physical exercise positively predicted perceived social support (β=0.218, t=8.900, p<0.01) and meaning in life (β = 0.131, t = 6.456, p < 0.01). In turn, perceived social support positively predicted meaning in life (β = 0.513, t = 15.429, p < 0.01) and negatively predicted suicidal ideation (β = −0.243, t = −6.286, p < 0.01). Furthermore, meaning in life exerted a negative effect on suicidal ideation (β = −0.246, t = −5.885, p < 0.01). (3) Both perceived social support and meaning in life significantly mediated the association between physical exercise and suicidal ideation via three pathways: physical exercise → perceived social support → suicidal ideation (mediating effect = −0.053); physical exercise → meaning in life → suicidal ideation (mediating effect = −0.032); and physical exercise → perceived social support → meaning in life → suicidal ideation (mediating effect = −0.028). (4) Gender moderated the effects of physical exercise on meaning in life (β = −0.136, p < 0.01) and on suicidal ideation (β = 0.142, p < 0.01).Conclusion: Physical exercise directly reduces suicidal ideation among college students and indirectly influences it through perceived social support and meaning in life, both as individual mediators and in a sequential pathway. Gender moderates both the initial segment of the physical exercise → meaning in life → suicidal ideation pathway and the direct effect on suicidal ideation.
Keywords: physical exercise, perceived social support, meaning in life, Suicidal Ideation, college students
Received: 10 May 2025; Accepted: 16 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou and Sun. 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: Feng Sun, Nantong University, Nantong, China
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