BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1653065
This article is part of the Research TopicPhysical Activity in Urban Areas: Where and When?View all 7 articles
The Mediating Role of Environmental Restorativeness Between Vegetation Levels and Physical Activity Intention: A Photo-Based Experimental Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Xichang University, Xichang, China
- 2Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
- 3Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
- 4Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- 5Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, China
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Physical activity is widely regarded as a core pathway through which vegetation promotes human health; however, the mechanisms by which vegetation facilitates physical activity remain underexplored. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of environmental restorativeness in the relationship between vegetation levels and intention to engage in physical activity. Using a sample of Chinese university students, we conducted an image-based experimental study in which participants were randomly shown simulated outdoor scenes with varying levels of vegetation coverage. Participants then rated their perceived restorativeness of the environment and their intention to be physically active in it. Initially, we validated the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS), confirming its acceptable structural and concurrent validity. The results showed that both perceived restorativeness and physical activity intention significantly increased with vegetation level. Further mediation analysis revealed that all PRS subscale scores significantly mediated the relationship between vegetation and physical activity intention, with the total PRS score demonstrating a full mediation effect. These findings support environmental restorativeness as a key psychological mechanism underlying the effect of green spaces on physical activity motivation. The study provides theoretical insight and practical guidance on how green spaces may promote physical activity by enhancing psychological restoration. Future research should expand the participant pool and utilize more ecologically valid environmental stimuli.
Keywords: restoration, Restorativeness, Mental Health, physical activity, Greenspace
Received: 24 Jun 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Weng, Zhang, Yin, Tian, Liu 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: Hansen Li, hanson-swu@foxmail.com
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