ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2025
The mediating role of public belonging in the relationship between competitive sports participation, loneliness, and self-harm among adolescents.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Daily physical activity associated with suicidal ideation in college students: an ecological momentary assessment study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- From exercise dose to social dose: a narrative review of the components, mechanisms, and design principles of group-based physical activity interventions to reduce loneliness.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Loneliness and self-harming behaviors among adolescents are central concerns in global public health and education. While sports participation is known to promote well-being, the underlying mechanisms remain underexplored. Drawing on social identity theory, this study investigates whether participation in competitive sports enhances adolescents' sense of public belonging, thereby reducing loneliness and self-harm. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 90 middle school students randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. Over six weeks, the intervention group participated in team-based competitive sports (football, basketball, volleyball), while the control group continued regular physical education. Measures included the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM), UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS), and Self-Harm Behavior Questionnaire (SHBQ). Data were analyzed using independent-sample t-tests, structural equation modeling (SEM), and mediation analysis. Results: Competitive sports significantly increased students' sense of public belonging. Belonging was associated with reduced self-harm and lower loneliness scores. However, within SEM, the belonging-loneliness path was only marginally significant. Overall model fit indices were weak, suggesting more complex underlying processes. Conclusions: Findings indicate that competitive sports reduce adolescents' risk of self-harm primarily by enhancing their sense of public belonging. Evidence for buffering loneliness was weaker, implying that loneliness is shaped more directly by family, peers, and broader resources. Theoretically, this extends social identity and social capital frameworks in sport psychology. Practically, it cautions that focusing solely on performance may cause schools to overlook sports' social benefits, limiting long-term effectiveness. Promoting adolescent mental health will require integrating school-based sports with family support, community engagement, and psychological services to build a more sustainable system of care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion 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 OpenQuestion graph.