The Relationship Between Physical Activity And Resilience Among College Students:The Mediating Effects Of Basic Psychological Needs

Background:Resilience is a dynamic process in which individuals actively adapt to pressure and adversity.It makes people thrive in the environment full of challenges and threats.Facing the increasingly adverse mental health of college students,how to enhance their resilience is worthy of attention.Some studies have shown that physical activity is beneficial to the improvement of resilience,but the internal mechanism is not clear.The self-determination theory puts forward that the basic psychological needs of competence,autonomy and relatedness are the basic nutrients for human growth,health and perfection.Physical activity is the important source to meet the basic psychological needs.When the basic needs are met,positive functions and the best psychological performance will be produced.We may deeply understand the association of physical activity and resilience from the perspective of basic psychological needs satisfaction.Therefore,this study aimed to explore the relationship between physical activity and resilience,as well as the mediating effects of competence need,autonomy need,and relatedness need.Methods:This study enrolled 2375 college students(mean age=20.25,SD=2.04),including 1110 males and 1265 females.We used the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form,Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale,and Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale to assess the physical activity level,resilience and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs of participants.SPSS 24.0 was applied to descriptive statistical analysis,demographic difference test,correlation analysis,regression analysis and mediation effect test.Results:(1)The college students’average resilience was above the medium level,but 21.7%of college students whose resilience was below the theoretical median.Resilience was positively associated with age(p<0.001),and there were significant differences for resilience in gender,grade,residence,and whether the participant is the only child or not(p<0.01).(2)Physical activity was positively associated with resilience of college students(p<0.01).Physical activity was also positively associated with the three basic psychological needs of competence,autonomy,and relatedness(p<0.05).In addition,competence need,autonomy need,and relatedness need were positively correlated with resilience(p<0.01).(3)The mediating effect of competence need was 0.052(95%CI:0.036-0.069),the mediating effect of autonomy need was 0.029(95%CI:0.018-0.042),and the mediating effect of relatedness need was 0.019(95%CI:0.009-0.031).The mediating effects were all significant.The total indirect effect of the three basic psychological needs was 0.100(95%CI:0.068-0.133),which accounted for 66.23%of the total effect.Conclusions:Physical activity is significantly and positively associated with college students’ resilience,and basic psychological needs play mediating effects between them.This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the association of physical activity and resilience of college students,provides the new perspective and basis for the study of the mechanism underpinning the relationship between them,and provides theoretical reference and practical enlightenment for improving college students’ resilience.