ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026
Can participation in sports enhance adolescents' subjective wellbeing? The chain mediation role of social support and basic psychological needs.
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
Background: Adolescent mental health has become a major global concern. Subjective wellbeing, as a core indicator of mental health, requires exploration of its intervention pathways. Participation in sports, encompassing physical regulation, emotional release, and social interaction, is considered an important avenue to promote subjective wellbeing; however, its specific mechanisms remain unclear. Objective: This study aims to explore the relationships among sports participation, social support, basic psychological needs, and subjective wellbeing, providing a theoretical basis for enhancing adolescents' subjective wellbeing. Methods: A survey was conducted among 1,000 adolescents from Shandong, Henan, Jilin, Guangdong, Shaanxi, and Liaoning using scales measuring sports participation, social support, basic psychological needs, and subjective wellbeing. Results: Sports participation significantly and positively predicted both social support and basic psychological needs. Social support and basic psychological needs served as partial mediators in the relationship between sports participation and adolescents' subjective wellbeing, with a significant chain mediation effect observed. Conclusion: The chain mediation pathway of social support and basic psychological needs indicates that sports participation enhances adolescents' subjective wellbeing by creating a supportive social environment, which satisfies basic psychological needs. Furthermore, moderate levels of physical activity were associated with the subjective wellbeing, suggesting that only appropriately dosed exercise effectively promotes individual wellbeing, while insufficient or excessive exercise may diminish the impact of sports participation on subjective wellbeing.
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