ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026
Effects of physical exercise on the happiness of Chinese university students: the moderated mediation model of grit through peer relationship and hope.
Article 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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Abstract
This study examined whether grit moderates the serial mediating effects of peer relationships and hope in the association between physical exercise and happiness among Chinese university students. The primary aim was to generate preliminary empirical evidence that may inform the development of intervention strategies designed to enhance hope and psychological wellbeing in emerging adulthood. Participants were recruited using a multistage stratified sampling strategy, followed by a census-based data collection approach in which all eligible students within the selected departments were surveyed. This process resulted in a final sample of 508 undergraduate students. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0, AMOS 23.0, and the PROCESS macro (Version 4.2). The analytical procedures included descriptive statistics, reliability testing, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, measurement model evaluation, and moderated mediation analysis using PROCESS Model 83 with bootstrapping. The results yielded two principal findings. First, physical exercise, grit, peer relationships, hope, and happiness were positively and significantly intercorrelated. Second, grit demonstrated a significant conditional indirect effect in the pathway from physical exercise to happiness via peer relationships and hope. Specifically, the conditional indirect effect was stronger at higher levels of grit, indicating that grit amplifies the positive association between physical exercise and happiness. These findings contribute preliminary evidence to the growing literature on grit by identifying its enhancing role within a positive psychological process model. Rather than functioning solely as a protective buffer, grit appears to strengthen the beneficial pathway linking health-promoting behaviors to interpersonal and cognitive-emotional resources, ultimately fostering happiness among Chinese university students.
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