ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1618840
This article is part of the Research TopicYouth Mental Health, Particularly in Asian PopulationsView all 92 articles
The relationship between physical activity and depression in college students: the parallel mediating role of mindfulness and life satisfaction
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Physical Education and Sports Science, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, Shandong Province, China
- 2Chengdu Vocational University of The Arts, Chengdu, China
- 3School of Sports Training, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
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Objective: To explore the relationship that mindfulness and life satisfaction have in the process of alleviating depression through physical activity in Chinese universities and the mediating role of life satisfaction and mindfulness in this process.: Participants were 508 college students (240 males, 268 females, mean age 19.90, SD = ±1.10). Psychosocial tests, including the Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3), the Positive Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the College Student Life Satisfaction Scale (CSLSS), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), were completed. Correlations of variables were calculated using Pearson's test. The mediation model was tested using the SPSS 26.0 PROCESS macro plug-in and regression bootstrap.Results: Physical activity showed a negative correlation with depression (β = -0.0045, p < 0.001)), mindfulness and life satisfaction showed a correlation between physical activity and depression, and more importantly, physical activity was negatively correlated with depression through the parallel mediating effect of mindfulness and life satisfaction, with a total mediating effect of 53.54%.By increasing college students' participation in physical activity, it helps to promote their mindfulness and life satisfaction, which is the key to reducing depression and promoting college students' mental health.
Keywords: Depression, mindfulness, life satisfaction, physical activity, College student
Received: 27 Apr 2025; Accepted: 09 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wamg, Shi and Wang. 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: Tong Wang, School of Sports Training, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan Province, China
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