ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1629986
This article is part of the Research TopicPsychological Factors in Physical Education and Sport - Volume VIView all 38 articles
Effects of Outdoor Sports on College Students' Learning Burnout: A Multiple Mediation Model of Social Support and Self-Regulation
Provisionally accepted
- Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China
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Learning burnout has become a prevalent psychological issue among university students, often resulting in decreased academic engagement and well-being. This study investigates the associations between outdoor sports and learning burnout, focusing on the multiple mediating roles of social support and self-regulation ability. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 942 university students in China, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine direct and indirect associations. The results revealed that outdoor sports were significantly associated with lower levels of learning burnout, both directly and indirectly. Social support and self-regulation ability each partially accounted for these associations, and a significant sequential pathway was observed: outdoor sports were associated with higher social support, which in turn related to stronger self-regulation, together linked to lower reported burnout. The model demonstrated good fit indices, and significant demographic differences were observed across gender and grade levels. These findings highlight the potential value of integrating physical activity into mental health and academic support strategies and contribute to a deeper theoretical understanding of how external and internal psychological resources are connected in the academic context.
Keywords: Outdoor sports, learning burnout, social support, self-regulation ability, university students, Mediation model
Received: 16 May 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xu. 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: Peng Xu, pengxu1110@163.com
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