Cao Longan, Ao Xiaorong, Zheng Zhirong, Ran Zhengban, Lang Jun
School of Physical Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Teaching and Research Association, Liupanshui Middle School, Guizhou, China.
Front Psychol. 2024 Nov 18;15:1466327. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1466327. eCollection 2024.
Female college students are a high-risk group for psychological conflicts, and they are more likely to adopt negative coping styles under stress, which can lead to anxiety, depression, and other psychological problems, as well as pose hidden threats to the healthy development of school education and social work. Although physical exercise is an important means of effectively alleviating the psychological health of female college students, and there may be a close relationship between coping styles and psychological resilience with physical exercise and psychological health, specific ways to promote the psychological health of female college students by influencing their coping styles and enhancing their psychological resilience have yet to be explored.
The present study employed a cross-sectional design to investigate a sample of Chinese undergraduate female college students. A total of 659 participants were recruited during the second half of the 2023-2024 academic year, and they all completed assessments including the Physical Activity Rating Scale, College Mental Health Scale, Brief Coping Styles Questionnaire, and Psychological Resilience Scale. Subsequently, descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze the obtained reliable data.
The study revealed two significant correlations among female college students, namely the associations between physical exercise, coping styles, psychological flexibility, and mental health. Specifically, physical exercise exhibited a positive relationship with positive coping styles and psychological resilience while displaying a negative association with negative coping styles and mental health. Moreover, psychological resilience demonstrated a positive correlation with positive coping styles but displayed negative relationships with both negative coping styles and mental health. Additionally, there was a negative relationship observed between positive coping styles and mental health. Furthermore, it was found that physical exercise significantly impacted the mental health of female college students in a detrimental manner; meanwhile, coping styles and psychological resilience played crucial mediating roles in linking physical exercise to mental health outcomes. Ultimately, our mediation model sheds the underlying mechanisms through which physical exercise predicts mental health levels among female college students; these findings underscore the importance of promoting physical exercise as an effective means to enhance overall well-being.
女大学生是心理冲突的高危群体，在压力下她们更倾向于采取消极的应对方式，这可能导致焦虑、抑郁等心理问题，也会对学校教育和社会工作的健康发展构成潜在威胁。尽管体育锻炼是有效缓解女大学生心理健康的重要手段，并且应对方式和心理韧性可能与体育锻炼及心理健康之间存在密切关系，但通过影响女大学生的应对方式并增强其心理韧性来促进其心理健康的具体途径尚待探索。
本研究采用横断面设计，对中国本科女大学生样本进行调查。在2023-2024学年下半年共招募了659名参与者，她们均完成了包括体育活动评分量表、大学生心理健康量表、简易应对方式问卷和心理韧性量表在内的评估。随后，运用描述性统计分析所获得的可靠数据。
该研究揭示了女大学生之间存在的两个显著相关性，即体育锻炼、应对方式、心理灵活性和心理健康之间的关联。具体而言，体育锻炼与积极应对方式和心理韧性呈正相关，而与消极应对方式和心理健康呈负相关。此外，心理韧性与积极应对方式呈正相关，但与消极应对方式和心理健康均呈负相关。另外，积极应对方式与心理健康之间呈负相关。此外，研究发现体育锻炼对女大学生的心理健康有显著的不利影响；同时，应对方式和心理韧性在体育锻炼与心理健康结果之间起着关键的中介作用。最终，我们的中介模型揭示了体育锻炼预测女大学生心理健康水平的潜在机制；这些发现强调了促进体育锻炼作为提升整体幸福感的有效手段的重要性。
