ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicPhysical Education, Health and Education Innovation-Vol IIIView all 33 articles
What is the relationship between family closeness, social support, and adolescent physical activity? Evidence from longitudinal tracking
Provisionally accepted
- Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China
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Purpose: Using a longitudinal cross-lagged design, this study examines the intrinsic relationship between family closeness, social support, and adolescent physical activity. Methods: Using the Family Intimacy Questionnaire, Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), and Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS), a two-phase longitudinal study was conducted on 802 adolescents (52.5% female) with a three-month interval between assessments. Results: (1) For adolescents, significant gender differences were found in family closeness, social support, and physical activity (p < 0.01); (2) Correlation analysis revealed positive pairwise correlations among family closeness, social support, and physical activity (all p < 0.01); (3) Cross-lagged analysis indicated that T1 family closeness significantly and positively predicted T2 social support (β=0.30, p<0.01), while T1 social support also significantly and positively predicted T2 family closeness (β=0.30, p<0.01). Furthermore, T1 family closeness significantly and positively predicted T2 physical activity (β=0.29, p < 0.01), and T1 physical activity significantly and positively predicted T2 family closeness (β = 0.17, p < 0.01); T1 social support significantly and positively predicted T2 physical activity (β = 0.36, p < 0.01), and T1 physical activity significantly and positively predicted T2 social support (β = 0.22, p < 0.01). Conclusion: (1) Significant gender differences exist in family closeness, social support, and physical activity among children and adolescents; (2) Family closeness and social support are positively correlated with adolescent physical activity; (3) Within the adolescent cohort, family closeness and social support cross-predict physical activity over time, while social support and physical activity also cross-predict each other over time.
Keywords: Family closeness1, social support2, physical activity3, adolescents4, Cross-lagged effects5
Received: 04 Oct 2025; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhou and Yu. 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: Wanbin Yu
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