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 43 articles
Relationships Among Anxiety, Psychological Resilience, and Physical Activity in University Students: Variable-Centred and Person-Centred Perspectives
Provisionally accepted
- Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Anxiety is significantly correlated with levels of physical activity in university students. This research assessed the effects of anxiety on engagement in physical activity and explored the potential mediating function of psychological resilience. Additionally, latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to identify distinct subtypes based on anxiety and resilience levels, and to explore their associations with physical activity. Methods: Utilizing a non-probability convenience sampling approach, this cross-sectional study recruited a total of 1,436 collegiate participants from multiple universities. Data collection was carried out with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the abbreviated Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), and the Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3). Data analysis included mediation effect analysis via Bootstrap methods (Model 4) and latent profile analysis (LPA). Results: Anxiety demonstrated a significant negative association with physical activity (β = −0.307, P < 0.001) and was identified as a substantial negative predictor of psychological resilience (β = −0.413, P < 0.001). A significant positive association was observed between psychological resilience and physical activity (β = 0.178, P < 0.001). The analysis confirmed the role of psychological resilience as a significant mediating variable in the pathway linking anxiety to physical activity, accounting for 24% of the total effect. Furthermore, latent profile analysis identified three distinct typologies: High Anxiety-Low Psychological Resilience (HA-LPR; 10.38%), Moderate Anxiety-Moderate Psychological Resilience (MA-MPR; 62.74%), and Low Anxiety-High Psychological Resilience (LA-HPR; 26.88%). These latent classes demonstrated statistically significant differences in physical activity levels (F = 209.655, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Results demonstrated that anxiety affects physical activity both directly and indirectly, with the latter effect occurring through the channel of psychological resilience. Latent profile analysis identified three distinct profiles among college students based on anxiety and psychological resilience: High Anxiety-Low Psychological Resilience, Moderate Anxiety-Moderate Psychological Resilience, and Low Anxiety-High Psychological Resilience. Marked variations in physical activity levels were observed among these subgroups. The results underscore the complex relationships among mental health indicators and health behaviours within the collegiate population. The delineation of distinct profiles offers practical implications for designing tailored intervention strategies.
Keywords: Anxiety, psychological resilience, physical activity, university students, MediationAnalysis, latent profile analysis
Received: 03 Sep 2025; Accepted: 30 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yuqing, Huang, Hu, Zhang and Chen. 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:
Wenying Huang, 18315133143@163.com
Chang Hu, huchang@itc.ynu.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.