ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1625066
This article is part of the Research TopicImpact of Physical Activity on Health and Behavioral Risks in AdolescentsView all 17 articles
The Impact of Adolescent Physical Activity on Quality of Life: A Moderated Mediation Model
Provisionally accepted
- Shandong University, Jinan, China
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Background: Quality of Life (QoL) is a crucial multi-dimensional structure in the development process of adolescents. As a key topic in adolescent research, existing achievements all indicate that participating in physical activities can improve the QoL of adolescents. However, the underlying mechanisms-the mediating role of anxiety and the underlying gender differences-remain insufficiently understood.Purpose: This study investigates the mechanisms by which adolescent physical activity influences QoL. Specifically, it examines the mediating role of anxiety and explores gender as a moderating factor. A multidimensional analysis of QoL outcomes is also conducted to provide a more nuanced understanding.Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from 9,504 adolescents across 17 cities in Shandong Province, China. The collected data were statistically analyzed using SPSS 27.0. Build a moderated mediation model using the PROCESS macro of SPSS.(1) There is a significant positive correlation between teenagers' participation in sports and their QoL (β = 4.243, P < 0.01). ( 2) Anxiety plays a key mediating role between teenagers' participation in sports and their QoL (β = 0.594, P < 0.05). (3) Gender plays a significant positive moderating role between adolescent sports participation and QoL (β = 0.781, P < 0.01). ( 4) Gender plays a significant positive moderating role between anxiety and QoL (β = 1.214, P < 0.05). ( 5) Gender plays a significant positive moderating role in the relationships between anxiety and living environment (β = 0.536, P < 0.01).Conclusion: Teenagers' participation in sports can directly or indirectly improve their QoL by reducing anxiety. Meanwhile, gender plays a moderating role in it. Furthermore, gender plays a significant moderating role in the relationships between anxiety and psychosocial function, anxiety and physical and mental health, anxiety and living environment, and exercise participation and physical and mental health. These findings emphasize the importance of adopting gender-specific strategies in physical intervention measures to improve the QoL of adolescents.
Keywords: physical activity, Anxiety, Quality of Life, gender, adolescents
Received: 08 May 2025; Accepted: 04 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ma, GAO, Zhao, Sui, Yang and Hu. 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: YAN GAO, Shandong University, Jinan, China
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