ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicPsychological Factors in Physical Education and Sport - Volume VIView all 47 articles
The relationship between martial arts practice experience and psychological resilience among Chinese college freshmen: the mediating role of self-control and the moderating role of perceived social support
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Physical Education, 225000, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
- 2Ministry of Public Sports,225300, Taizhou University, Taizhou, China
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Objective: This study aims to examine the moderating effect of perceived social support and the mediating role of self-control in the relationship between psychological resilience and martial arts experience among first-year college students. Methods: A cluster sampling method was used to select 1,291 university freshmen from Jiangsu Province. Data were collected through a basic information questionnaire, a Martial Arts Practice Experience Questionnaire, a Psychological Resilience Scale, a Self-Control Scale, and a Perceived Social Support Scale. Results: (1)College freshmen with martial arts practice experience demonstrate greater psychological resilience and self-control than those without martial arts practice experience.(2) Martial arts practice experience was significantly positively correlated with psychological resilience (r = 0.447, P < 0.01), self-control (r = 0.478, P < 0.01), and perceived social support (r = 0.201, P < 0.01). (3) Self-control partially mediated the relationship between martial arts practice experience and psychological resilience (β = 0.491, t = 19.747, P < 0.001), with the mediation effect accounting for 52.57% of the total effect. (4) Perceived social support played a moderating role in the second half of the mediation model (β = 0.133, t = 6.314, P < 0.001), such that the higher the level of perceived social support among college freshmen, the stronger the enhancing effect of self-control on psychological resilience. Conclusion: The findings revealed a moderated mediating relationship between martial arts practice experience and psychological resilience among college freshmen, with self-control serving as a mediating variable between the two factors. Additionally, perceived social support strengthened the positive effect of self-control on psychological resilience among college freshmen.
Keywords: martial arts practice experience, college freshmen, psychological resilience, Self-Control, perceived social support
Received: 14 Aug 2025; Accepted: 12 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tao and Li. 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:
Chen Tao, 007085@yzu.edu.cn
Yue Li, 2021210041@tzu.edu.cn
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