ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1659084
This article is part of the Research TopicCombat Sports and Well-being: Prevention, Protection, and Development Across the Lifespan – Volume IIView all 3 articles
The impact of combat sports on undergraduate students' subjective well-being: chain mediation effects of emotional intelligence and selfesteem
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China
- 2Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
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Background: With the continuous development of positive psychology, undergraduate students' subjective well-being has increasingly become a focal point for researchers. Combat sports, as an effective means of promoting mental health, have significant potential for enhancing undergraduate students' subjective well-being, yet the underlying mechanisms warrant in-depth investigation. This study aimed to explore the impact of combat sports on undergraduate students' subjective well-being and examine the chain mediation effects of emotional intelligence and self-esteem.This study employed a cross-sectional design to collect data from undergraduate students participating in combat sports across 10 universities in Sichuan Province, China, through questionnaire surveys. The research instruments included the Physical Activity Rating Scale, Subjective Well-being Scale, Emotional Intelligence Scale, and Self-esteem Scale to comprehensively assess participants' psychological and behavioral characteristics. Following data collection, statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0, with structural equation modeling (AMOS) and Bootstrap methods employed to examine potential mediation effects and ensure reliability of the findings.The analysis revealed significant positive correlations among combat sports participation, subjective well-being, emotional intelligence, and self-esteem. Specifically, combat sports demonstrated a significant direct effect on undergraduate students' subjective well-being, indicating that participation in combat sports directly enhances individuals' well-being levels. Furthermore, emotional intelligence and self-esteem exhibited chain mediation effects between combat sports and subjective well-being, whereby combat sports indirectly influenced subjective well-being by enhancing individuals' emotional intelligence and self-esteem.Combat sports not only directly predict undergraduate students' subjective well-being but also indirectly influence subjective well-being through the psychological mediating variables of emotional intelligence and self-esteem. This study elucidates the underlying mechanisms linking combat sports participation and undergraduate students' subjective well-being, providing empirical
Keywords: combat sports, Subjective well-being, Emotional Intelligence, self-esteem, the chain mediation effect
Received: 03 Jul 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ying and Yang. 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: Qingqing Yang, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
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