ArticlePloS one2024
Association between physical activity and adolescent mental health in the post COVID-19: The chain mediating effect of self-esteem and social anxiety.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Physical activity and mental health: a systematic review and best-evidence synthesis of mediation and moderation studies.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Pooled it
- Physical Activity as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Anxiety Symptoms in Chilean Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Outdoor Physical Activity and Youth Mental Well-Being: A Narrative Review with Mountain Biking as an Illustrative Case.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Association between physical activity and mental health among Yi students aged 10-18 years in Southwest China: a school-based cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Can physical exercise alleviate social anxiety in junior high school students by improving body image?Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The intensity, cardiorespiratory fitness and mental health benefits of integrated badminton teaching of "learning, practice and competition": a quasi-experimental in university.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Exercise as an adjunct intervention for social anxiety disorder: a mini-review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- School-based physical activity and adolescent mental health: candidate psychological mechanisms, contextual moderators, and unresolved controversies.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- The influence of physical activity on the mental health of high school students: the chain mediating effects of social support and self-esteem.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Age-dependent mechanisms of exercise in the treatment of depression: a comprehensive review of physiological and psychological pathways.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn order to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between physical activity and adolescent mental health in the post COVID-19 pandemic era, self-esteem and social anxiety were used as mediating variables to explore the potential mechanisms by which physical activity affects adolescent mental health.
methodsThe study used the HELP-II Health Promoting Lifestyle Scale, the SPIN Social Phobia Scale, the Self-Esteem Scale, and the 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale to administer questionnaires to 400 Chinese secondary school students, and SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS 3.3 were used to process the data.
resultsThe findings showed that (1) physical activity was significantly and positively associated with mental health; (2) self-esteem and social anxiety played a fully mediating role between physical activity and adolescent mental health respectively; (3) self-esteem and social anxiety played a chain mediating role between physical activity and adolescent mental health.
conclusionThis study reveals the relationship and influencing mechanism between physical activity and adolescent mental health in the post COVID-19 pandemic era. Appropriate interventions for physical activity, self-esteem, and social anxiety may be beneficial to adolescent mental health. The protective role of self-esteem in adolescent mental health should be the focus of future studies, and further investigations into the association between the COVID-19 and adolescent mental health are warranted.
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