ArticlePloS one2025
The effect of peer relationships on college students' behavioral intentions to be physically active: The chain-mediated role of social support and exercise self-efficacy.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Associations Among Physical Exercise, Social Support, and Meaning in Life in College Students: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Different Dimensions of Social Support on Social Media and Leisure-Time Physical Activity Intentions Among Chinese College Students Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior: A Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Physical Activity, Social Support, and Life Satisfaction Among Female College Students: A Variable- and Person-Centered Analysis.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Longitudinal effects of physical activity on university students' mental health via self-efficacy and the moderating role of peer support.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Hierarchical Analysis of Physical Activity Determinants in Brazilian Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The relationship between physical activity and subjective wellbeing in infertile women: the mediating role of positive feedback and self-efficacy.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The influence of social physical exercise on the health of middle-aged and older adults: a mediating model of health behavior change mechanisms moderated by age.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Physical exercise and academic procrastination in Chinese college student-athletes: the chain mediating role of peer support and academic self-efficacy.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Mediating role of exercise behavioral intention in the relationship between exercise self-efficacy and physical activity levels in vocational education students.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The chain mediating role of physical exercise and anxiety in the relationship between school connectedness and sleep disorders among adolescents.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The impact of physical exercise on college students' interpersonal skills: the chain mediation effect of social anxiety and peer relationships.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Physical activity and social adaptation in high school students: the chain mediating roles of interpersonal relationships and psychological resilience.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Enjoyment as a motivational driver of sport continuation: a moderated mediation model of engagement and social support.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The Mediating Role of Academic Self-Efficacy Between Gender and the Intention to Resume Schooling Among Depressed Adolescents: An Empirical Study from China.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The bidirectional relationship between physical exercise and social self-efficacy: a cross-lagged model analysis of the mediating role of peer acceptance.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePhysical activity behavioral intentions have a positive impact on individuals' physical and mental health, social adjustment, and academic work. This study explored the effects of peer relationships on college students' behavioral intentions for physical activity and analyzed the mediating role of social support and exercise self-efficacy.
methodsThe Peer Relationship Inventory, the Physical Activity Rating Scale-Intentions to Physical Activity Behavior subscale, the Social Support Scale, and the Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale were used to psychometrically measure 514 college students (age = 19.00 ± 1.27) from June 3, 2024, to June 7, 2024, and the Bootstrap method was used to mediate the relationship between social support and exercise self-efficacy.
results(1) Peer relationships, social support, exercise self-efficacy and intention to engage in physical activity behaviors were positively correlated (all p < 0.01); (2) gender differences in exercise self-efficacy and intention to engage in physical activity behaviors existed (p < 0.001), and male students scored higher than female students (M ± SD: 3.18 ± 0.55 > 2.98 ± 0.59; 3.23 ± 0.62 > 2.95 ± 0.61); (3) the mediating effect size of social support (peer relationship→social support→behavioral intention to exercise) was 0.078, which accounted for 8.83% of the total effect, and that of exercise self-efficacy (peer relationship→exercise self-efficacy→behavioral intention to exercise) was 0.314, which accounted for 35.56% of the total effect, the chained mediation effect of social support and exercise The chain mediation effect size of self-efficacy (peer relationship→social support→exercise self-efficacy→behavioral intention to exercise) was 0.057, accounting for 6.46% of the total effect, and none of the confidence intervals contained 0.
conclusions(1) College students' peer relationships can significantly and positively predict behavioral intention to exercise; (2) college students' peer relationships can have a simple influence on the behavioral intention to exercise through social support and exercise self-efficacy, respectively; (3) College student peer relationships can also influence intention to engage in physical activity through social support and exercise self-efficacy in a chained manner.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.