ReviewFrontiers in psychology2026
The impact of physical activities on positive emotions in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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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.
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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Abstract
Background: During growth and development, emotional experiences change dynamically. In adolescence, the stability of positive emotions may decline. Exploring whether physical activity can promote positive emotional and related psychological outcomes in children and adolescents has therefore become an important topic in public health and developmental research. Objective: This review aimed to clarify the effects of physical activity interventions on positive emotional and related psychological outcomes among children and adolescents aged 7-25 years through a meta-analysis. Methods: Relevant studies were systematically retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, Embase, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO up to December 12, 2025. The search strategy combined terms related to physical activity, positive emotional and related psychological outcomes, children and adolescents, and randomized controlled trials. Because the included studies used different outcome measures and scoring ranges, standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated using a random-effects model. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to outcome type, intervention duration, intervention type, control-group type, session length, and age group. Results: 15 studies comprising 16 comparisons were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled analysis showed that physical activity interventions were associated with a significant improvement in positive emotional and related psychological outcomes among children and adolescents (SMD = 0.72, 95% CI 0.33 to 1.12, Conclusion: The available evidence suggests that physical activity interventions may improve positive emotional and related psychological outcomes in children and adolescents. However, given the substantial heterogeneity and conceptual differences among outcome measures, these findings should be interpreted cautiously. The subgroup findings were derived from separate analyses and should not be interpreted as defining a single optimal intervention package. Systematic Review Registration: identifier: CRD420261279752.
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