January 22, 2025
Relationship Between Physical Literacy and Mental Health in Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model with Resilience and Physical Activity as Variables

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Health Psychology

Volume 16 – 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1518423

This article is part of the Research Topic Implementing Mental Health Prevention and Promotion Programs: A Sustainable Approach – Volume II View all articles

Provisionally accepted

  • 1 Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China
  • 2 Changchun Normal University, Changchun, China
  • 3 Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Physical literacy is defined as the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engaging in physical activities for life, and may be associated with higher mental health; however, few studies have explored the processes underlying these positive associations.Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the role of resilience in the relationship between physical literacy and mental health, and further examines the mediating role of physical activity.Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited a sample of 1,022 (aged 10-18 years, Mage = 14.84, SD = 1.79, 44.9% male) Chinese students, grades five to twelve, via physical education courses. The hypothesised moderated mediation model was employed using Model 4 and Model 8 of the PROCESS macro for SPSS to examine the relationships between physical literacy, mental health, resilience, and physical activity.Results: Physical literacy was positively and significantly correlated with mental health(r = 0.364, p < 0.001), and resilience(r = 0.486, p < 0.001). After controlling for sex and grade variables, resilience mediated the relationship between adolescent physical literacy and mental health, physical activity moderated the relationship between physical literacy and resilience in the mediator model but not between physical literacy and mental health.Discussion: The present study suggests that could physical literacy predict increased levels of resilience, which could then lead to higher mental health. However, this mediation effect may fluctuate across individuals with different levels of physical activity. Overall, this study may reveal that physical literacy promotes resilience and mental health processes in individuals with different levels of physical activity.

    Keywords:
    Physical Literacy, Mental Health, physical activity, resilience, adolescence 1.Introduction

    Received:
    28 Oct 2024;
    Accepted:
    06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright:
    © 2025
    Zhu, Jiabin, Tianzhuo, Xiaomei, Bolei, Leifu, Jianfeng and Ping. 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:

    Lin Jiabin, Changchun Normal University, Changchun, China

    Liu Tianzhuo, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, 110034, Liaoning Province, China

    Lai Xiaomei, Changchun Normal University, Changchun, China

    Wang Bolei, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, Jilin Province, China

    Dai Leifu, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, Jilin Province, China

    Tang Jianfeng, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, Jilin Province, China

    Tao Ping, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, Jilin Province, China

    Disclaimer:
    All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and
    do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or
    those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that
    may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its
    manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

    link

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *