The effect of family support on junior high school students' engagement in physical education-A moderated chain mediation model.

Introduction: Engagement in physical education constitutes an interactive process integrating experiential psychology and behavior, which positively contributes to sustaining adolescents' long-term physical activity adherence. This study explored the effects of family support on junior high school students' engagement in physical education, along with the mediating roles of academic self-concept and achievement goal orientation, and the moderating role of academic burnout within this mediation pathway. Methods: The study used the Family Support Scale, Engagement in Physical Education Scale, Academic Self-Concept Scale, Achievement Goal Orientation Scale, and Academic Burnout Scale to administer questionnaires to 1,059 junior high school students. Statistical analysis was performed on the processed data using SPSS 26.0. Mediation and moderation effects were examined respectively using Process 3.4 and Model 91 in the PROCESS macro, with the mediation effects further verified using AMOS 28.0. Results: (1) Family support significantly and positively predicts junior high school students' level of engagement in physical education; (2) Academic self-concept and achievement goal orientation serve not only as simple mediators in the influence of family support on engagement in physical education, but also transmit this influence through a chain: family support → academic self-concept → achievement goal orientation → engagement in physical education. (3) Academic burnout moderates between academic self-concept and achievement goal orientation.