The impact of school sports atmosphere on college students' social anxiety: the mediating role of exercise self-efficacy and the moderating effect of gender.

Background: Social anxiety is a common psychological challenge among college students and is closely associated with impaired interpersonal functioning and reduced wellbeing. Although physical activity has been linked to better mental health, limited research has examined whether the broader school sports atmosphere is associated with social anxiety and through which psychological pathways this association may operate. Drawing on Ecological Systems Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, this study investigated whether exercise self-efficacy mediates the relationship between school sports atmosphere and social anxiety, and whether gender moderates the constituent paths of this process. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 576 Chinese college students selected through stratified cluster sampling. Participants completed measures of school sports atmosphere, exercise self-efficacy, and social anxiety. Descriptive statistics, correlational analyses, confirmatory factor analysis, and common method bias testing were performed. Mediation and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS Model 4 and Model 59 with bootstrapping procedures, while controlling for relevant demographic covariates. Results: School sports atmosphere was significantly and negatively associated with social anxiety. Exercise self-efficacy partially mediated this relationship, indicating that a more positive school sports atmosphere was associated with higher exercise self-efficacy, which in turn was associated with lower social anxiety. Gender significantly moderated two constituent paths of the indirect process. Specifically, the positive association between school sports atmosphere and exercise self-efficacy was stronger for males, whereas the negative association between exercise self-efficacy and social anxiety was stronger for females. However, the overall indirect effect did not significantly differ in magnitude across genders, suggesting a potential path-specific compensatory pattern rather than a universal mechanism. Conclusions: A supportive school sports atmosphere may serve as a protective contextual factor associated with lower social anxiety among college students, partly through enhanced exercise self-efficacy. The findings further suggest that the internal pathways linking sports atmosphere, self-efficacy, and social anxiety differ by gender in a compensatory manner. These results provide evidence for developing gender-sensitive campus sports and mental health interventions aimed at reducing social anxiety in higher education settings.