The relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security: the chain-mediated role of self-esteem and psychological capital

The relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security: the chain-mediated role of self-esteem and psychological capital | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security: the chain-mediated role of self-esteem and psychological capital Hongbo Zhao Zhao, You Qing You, Shi Lei Shi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5643295/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 03 Jun, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Objective: To explore the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security, as well as the mediating role of self-esteem and psychological capital between the two. This study used a cross-sectional design, and questionnaires were distributed to 593 college students (29.7% male and 70.3% female) selected from selected colleges and universities in the Liaoning region of China through a simple random sampling method. The questionnaires included the Physical Activity Scale, the Sense of Security Scale, the Self-Esteem Scale, and the Psychological Capital Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS 3.4 plug-ins and Bootstrap methods to test the chain-mediated effects of self-esteem and psychological capital. Results: (1) there is a positive correlation between physical activity and college students' sense of security, and the direct prediction of sense of security is significant; (2) physical activity can positively predict self-esteem, self-esteem can positively predict psychological capital and sense of security, and psychological capital can positively predict sense of security; (3) self-esteem and psychological capital play a significant mediating role between physical activity and sense of security, and the three mediating effect paths: physical activity → self-esteem → sense of security, physical activity → psychological capital → sense of security and physical activity → self-esteem → psychological capital → sense of security. Conclusions: (1) Physical activity can significantly and positively predict college students' sense of security; (2) Self-esteem and psychological capital play mediating roles between physical activity and college students' sense of security, respectively, and also play chain mediating roles. Biological sciences/Psychology Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour Physical activity College students' sense of security Self-esteem Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Psychological capital In 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at a symposium of expert representatives in the field of education, culture, health and sports in Beijing, emphasizing the need to strengthen physical activity and constantly enhance the people's sense of security 1 . At the same time, the Special Action Plan to Comprehensively Strengthen and Improve Student Mental Health Work in the New Era (2023–2025), issued by the Ministry of Education and other seventeen departments, emphasized the need to give play to the role of sports in relieving stress and regulating emotions, and to place mental health work in a prominent position 2 . As an important new force driving China's development, the college student population's sense of security is of great significance to the promotion of mental health as well as the development of China as a whole 3 . When college students' sense of security is insufficient, it is very easy to cause psychological problems such as anxiety and depression, and even lead to physiological symptoms such as insomnia and loss of appetite 4 . This psychological state will further affect their academic performance, and studies have shown that college students with a low sense of security have worse grades and higher failure rates 5 . In addition, a lack of security can make college students lack self-confidence, affect their social skills, make them withdraw from interpersonal interactions, and make it difficult for them to establish intimate relationships 6 . Therefore, the study of college students' sense of security has triggered a great deal of attention from many scholars 7 . And physical activity, as a proven way of mental health intervention, has gained the consensus of the whole society. Studies have shown that long-term adherence to physical activity not only helps to cultivate the will quality of perseverance, but also enhances the ability of individuals to cope with life's setbacks, making them more confident in facing challenges and solving problems, which significantly improves the sense of security of Chinese nationals 8 , 9 . However, combing through the existing studies, we found that there is a scarcity of research on the mechanism of the influence of physical activity on college students' sense of security, and the depth and breadth of the research need to be expanded. Therefore, this study focuses on the special group of college students and explores the mechanism of physical activity on college students' sense of security, in order to provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for physical educators to formulate and implement effective physical education interventions to enhance college students' sense of security. Theoretical basis and hypothesis The relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security The sense of security is the premonition of possible risks or dangers to the body or the mind, as well as the individual's sense of powerlessness or strength in coping with difficulties, which is mainly manifested in the sense of certainty and controllability 10 . According to the theory of stress and coping, when the intensity of external stimuli exceeds the boundaries of the individual's coping resources and regulatory capacity, the individual is very easy to produce traumatic experiences, which in turn breeds anxiety, in order to effectively alleviate anxiety, the individual tends to spontaneously activate the psychological defense mechanism, in order to seek a sense of security 11 . The lack of security will also directly reduce the level of psychological health of college students, which may also lead to the occurrence of mental illness 12 . The results of this study show that physical activity is not only a key way to improve negative emotions and enhance the sense of security 13 , 14 , but also has a significant positive correlation with college students' sense of security, which has a direct predictive effect 11 . It can be seen that the prominent role of physical activity in the process of improving college students' sense of security. Accordingly, hypothesis 1 of this paper is proposed.H1: Physical activity has a significant positive predictive effect on college students' sense of security. Mediating effects of self-esteem Self-esteem refers to the corresponding emotional experience of an individual through the evaluation of the self, which includes the dimensions of self-worth and self-competence, and belongs to the emotional component of the self-system 15 . Fear management theory states that self-esteem is mainly derived from the fear of death, and the self-esteem resources possessed by individuals can reduce and alleviate anxiety 16 . When faced with negative events, self-esteem prompts individuals to adopt some social behaviors to alleviate their internal anxiety and regain a sense of value and meaning for themselves 17 . The results of the study show that physical activity is significantly positively correlated with self-esteem of college students 18 , and when individuals engage in self-initiated types of physical activity, the likelihood of an individual's overall self-esteem improving is even greater 19 . Through an experimental intervention, it was demonstrated that students who were actively engaged in physical activity had higher levels of self-esteem 20 . Therefore, physical activity can not only make college students strong and healthy, but also plays an important role in the improvement of college students' self-esteem. Meanwhile, self-esteem has a significant positive predictive effect on college students' sense of security, which is positively correlated with college students' sense of security 21 , and college students with low self-esteem are difficult to obtain a high sense of security due to a lack of self-confidence, whereas college students with high self-esteem, on the contrary, are more likely to obtain a high sense of security 22 . Therefore, self-esteem has an indispensable role in the process of improving college students' sense of security. Accordingly, the research hypothesis 2 of this paper is proposed.H2: Self-esteem plays a mediating role in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security. Mediating effects of psychological capital Psychological capital is a positive psychological state shown by individuals in the process of growth, including the dimensions of self-efficacy, optimism, resilience and hope 23 . According to psychological capital theory, psychological capital has a positive impact on individual behavior and cognitive enhancement, and is an important resource for personal ability improvement 24 . Studies have shown that physical activity can positively predict the level of psychological capital of college students, and college students with high physical activity have high levels of psychological capital 25 – 27 . Therefore, physical activity is important for the improvement of psychological capital. At the same time, there is a significant positive correlation between psychological capital and college students' sense of security, as a positive psychological state, it has a contributing effect on the formation and development of college students' sense of security, the higher the level of psychological capital of college students, the higher the level of sense of security, and vice versa, the lower it is 28 . At the same time, psychological capital can play a buffering role in coping with stress and adversity, thus indirectly enhancing the level of individual's sense of security 29 . It can be seen that psychological capital may be a mediating variable between physical activity and college students' sense of security, accordingly, hypothesis 3 of this research paper is proposed.H3: Psychological capital plays a mediating role in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security. Chain-mediated effects of self-esteem and psychological capital Physical activity, self-esteem and psychological capital have significant positive effects on the improvement of college students' sense of security, respectively, and self-esteem and psychological capital play a simple mediating effect in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security, respectively. Social learning theory suggests that individuals can promote the development of their own self-esteem and psychological capital by observing and imitating the positive behaviors and outcomes of others in physical activity situations 30 , which can gain self-recognition and self-affirmation, prompting them to be optimistic, cheerful, and self-confident 31 , and contributing to a higher sense of security. At the same time, there is a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and psychological capital dimensions, and self-esteem has a positive predictive effect on psychological capital, the higher the self-esteem, the higher the level of psychological capital, and more likely to obtain a sense of security 32 – 36 . Therefore, self-esteem may affect the level of psychological capital, which is one of the key factors to improve psychological capital, and the higher the level of self-esteem of college students, the stronger the psychological capital may be. Based on this, the research hypothesis 4 of this paper is proposed.H4: Self-esteem and psychological capital may play a chain mediating role in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security. As a result, the research hypothesis model is constructed as shown in Fig. 1 . Methodology of the study Participants Table 1 Description of demographic characteristics of survey respondents Variant Form Number of people Percentage (%) Distinguishing between the sexes Male Female 176 417 29.7 70.3 Grade Freshman year Sophomore Junior Senior 276 191 86 40 46.5 32.2 14.5 6.7 Professional category Science and Technology Humanities and Social Sciences Arts and Sports 222 256 115 37.4 43.2 19.4 Only child Yes No 311 282 52.4 47.6 Add up the total 593 100 This paper examines the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security and the mediating role of self-esteem and psychological capital. The four selected scales were synthesized into a comprehensive questionnaire using simple random sampling method. The sample size was determined based on the simple random sampling method. A medium effect size (effect size = 0.25), significance level (α = 0.05), and statistical power (power = 0.80) were set according to Cohen's (1988) recommendations 37 . The minimum sample size required for calculations through the G*Power software was 128 individuals. However, considering the complexity of the study and the need for multivariate analysis, we further expanded the sample size. A total of 623 questionnaires were distributed to 623 college students enrolled in universities in Liaoning Province, and 623 questionnaires were recovered through online distribution of questionnaires. Before data analysis, we performed outlier detection on the data. According to the recommendation of Tabachnick and Fidell (2013), extreme values with standardized scores greater than 2 or less than − 2 were deleted to reduce the impact of outliers on the analysis results 38 . In addition, we assessed the data for normality and the Shapiro-Wilk test showed that the distribution of variable X significantly deviated from the normal distribution (W = 0.92, p < 0.05). And SPSS 26.0 was used to calculate the total score and standardized score of each questionnaire, the standardized score not only reflects the position of each student's score in the whole distribution, but also is not affected by the initial data, according to the law of normal distribution, the two standard deviations that are greater than and less than the mean will be excluded 39 , and the valid questionnaires were obtained as 593, with an effective rate of about 95.2%. Among them, 176 were male (valid percentage of 29.7%) and 417 were female (valid percentage of 70.3%). The demographic characteristics of the survey respondents are described in detail in Table 1 . Tools and procedures for data collection Physical activity rating scale The Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS) revised in 1994 by Liang Deqing et al. was used to examine the physical activity behaviors of college students, and with reference to its rating criteria, the time (e.g., how many minutes at a time do you engage in the above intensity physical activities?), frequency (e.g., how many times a month do you perform the above physical activities?) and intensity (e.g., how intensively do you perform physical activity?) and other indicators 40 . Each indicator is scored on a 5-point scale, physical activity = intensity×duration×frequency, and the total score is categorized into three grades, including small activity ≤ 19, medium activity20ཞ42, and large activity ≥ 43, and the grade classification is used as an indicator for assessing physical activity. The Clonbach's alpha coefficient for this scale was 0.71. Sense of security scale The scale is based on the Sense of Security Scale developed by Congzhong and An Lijuan in 2004, which consists of a total of 16 items, including Sense of Interpersonal Security (e.g., I feel that life is always full of uncertainty and unpredictability.) and certainty of control (e.g., I often worry that I will lose control of my thoughts or feelings.) Two dimensions, each including eight items, each item is scored on a 5-point scale from 1 (very much in line) to 5 (very much out of line), and the total score is the sum of the scores of the items, with higher scores indicating higher levels of security 41 . The alpha coefficient of Clonbach for this scale in this study was 0.93. Self-esteem scale A 10-item self-esteem scale developed by Rosenberg in 1965 was used, with a 4-point scale consisting of positively scored questions (e.g., I feel that I am a valuable person, at least on the same level as others.) and reverse scoring questions (e.g., I feel worthless from time to time.) The sum of the scores of each item is the total score, and self-esteem is proportional to the score, with low self-esteem ≦ 25, moderate self-esteem 26–32, and high self-esteem ≧ 33 42 . The Clonbach's alpha coefficient for this scale in this study was 0.91. Psychological capital scale The scale is based on the Mental Capital Scale developed by Zhang Gao et al. in 2010, with a total of 26 questions on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (fully), including hope (e.g., I feel hopeful about my future.) Self-efficacy (e.g., I care little about the unpleasantness of life.). Optimism (e.g., I feel that there are a majority of good people in society.) and resilience (e.g., I am willing to take on difficult and challenging tasks.). Four dimensions, of which, resilience and self-efficacy dimensions have 7 questions respectively, optimism and hope dimensions have 6 questions respectively, and the sum of the scores of 26 questions is the total score, the higher the score indicates the higher the level of psychological capital 43 . The scale was tested to have good reliability and its clombach alpha coefficient was 0.92 in this study. Statistical methods The data obtained from the survey were analyzed and processed using the statistical software SPSS 26.0, which mainly includes screening out invalid data, reliability analysis, common method bias test, Pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis, etc. Based on the results of the study, the mediation effect test was carried out through the process macro program prepared by Hayes. Results Common method bias test Due to the influence of the measurement environment and other factors, the data obtained from the questionnaire may have the problem of common method bias 44 . The data obtained were subjected to Harman's one-way test and analyzed using SPSS 26.0 for physical activity, security, self-esteem, and psychological capital, and the results showed that the total number of factors with an eigenroot greater than 1 was eight, and the first factor explained 32.29% of the variation, which was less than the 40% critical value, suggesting that there was no common methodological bias in this study. A correlation analysis of physical activity, self-esteem, psychological capital and sense of security among college students Table 2 Correlation analysis of physical activity, self-esteem, psychological capital and sense of security among university students Variant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Genders(1) 1 Grade(2) 0.499 ** 1 Professional category(3) -0.079 -0.032 1 Only child(4) 0.064 0.042 -0.056 1 Physical activity(5) 0.296 ** 0.576 ** -0.025 0.038 1 Sense of security(6) 0.148 ** 0.146 ** 0.010 0.030 0.302 ** 1 Self-esteem(7) 0.135 ** 0.108 ** -0.055 0.069 0.206 ** 0.486 ** 1 Psychological capital(8) 0.104 * 0.090 * -0.027 -0.029 0.280 ** 0.479 ** 0.335 ** 1 Note:* indicates P < 0.05,** indicates P < 0.01, the correlation is significant. Through Person correlation analysis of gender, grade, major category, whether they are only child, physical activity, sense of security, self-esteem and psychological capital of college students, it was found that major category and whether they are only child are not correlated with gender, grade, physical activity, sense of security, self-esteem and psychological capital, whereas there is a significant positive correlation between gender and grade and physical activity, sense of security, self-esteem and psychological capital. There was a significant positive correlation between physical activity and sense of security, self-esteem and psychological capital, and a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and psychological capital and sense of security (Table 2 ). Mediation effect test Table 3 Regression model of mediating effects of self-esteem and psychological capital Regression equation Overall fit index Significance of regression coefficients Implicit variable Independent variable R R 2 F β t Sense of security Physical activity 0.316 0.100 13.060 0.271 6.781 *** Self-esteem Physical activity 0.236 0.056 6.961 0.114 4.347 *** Psychological capital Physical activity 0.413 0.170 20.107 0.251 5.988 *** Self-esteem 0.483 7.441 *** Sense of security Physical activity 0.117 3.346 *** Self-esteem 0.607 0.369 48.965 0.543 9.843 *** Psychological capital 0.299 8.930 *** Note:** indicates P < 0.01,*** indicates P < 0.001. Table 4 Mediating effects of self-esteem and psychological capital Effect Trails Efficiency value Standard error LLCL ULCL Efficiency ratio Total effect 0.271 0.040 0.192 0.350 100% Direct effect Direct path 0.117 0.035 0.048 0.186 43.17% Total indirect effect 0.153 0.024 0.107 0.205 56.46% Path 1 0.062 0.016 0.032 0.097 22.88% Indirect effect Path 2 0.075 0.021 0.037 0.119 27.68% Path 3 0.016 0.005 0.007 0.027 5.90% Using physical activity as the independent variable, sense of security as the dependent variable, and self-esteem and psychological capital as the mediator variables, the chain mediation effect of self-esteem and psychological capital between physical activity and sense of security was tested using SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS 3.4 plug-in controlling for demographic variables such as gender, and the results are shown in Table 3 . The specific steps are as follows: in the first step, using the sense of security as the dependent variable, enter gender, grade level, major category and whether or not an only child, in order to control for the possible effects of these variables on the sense of security of college students. In the second step, a regression model was established by inputting physical activity to examine the total effect of physical activity on the sense of security after controlling for the variables, and it was found that physical activity was able to positively and significantly predict the sense of security (β = 0.271, P < 0.001), indicating that research hypothesis H1 was valid. In the third step, self-esteem and psychological capital variables were added to the model to test whether they were mediating variables between physical activity and sense of security and whether there was a chain mediating effect. It was found that physical activity could significantly and positively predict the sense of security (β = 0.117, P < 0.001), self-esteem could positively predict the sense of security (β = 0.543, P < 0.001), and psychological capital could positively predict the sense of security (β = 0.299, P < 0.001). It was also found in the test that physical activity was able to significantly positively predict self-esteem (β = 0.114, P < 0.001) and psychological capital (β = 0.251, P < 0.001), and self-esteem was able to positively predict psychological capital (β = 0.483, P < 0.001). From the above, it can be seen that there is a significant chain mediation between self-esteem and psychological capital in the relationship between physical activity and sense of security, proving that the research hypotheses H2 and H3 of this paper are valid. Using Bootstrap test to repeat the sampling 5000 times, the mediating effects of self-esteem and psychological capital between physical activity and sense of security and confidence intervals were examined separately (Table 4 ), and the results showed that the total effect value of physical activity on sense of security was 0.271, and the 95% confidence intervals of the mediating effects of self-esteem and psychological capital did not contain 0 (LLCL = 0.192,ULCL = 0.350), indicating that the total effect of physical activity on the feeling of security and the mediating effect of the two variables are significant. The value of the direct effect of physical activity on the sense of security is 0.117 (direct path), Bootstrap 95% confidence interval does not contain 0 (LLCL = 0.048,ULCL = 0.186), indicating that there is a significant direct effect of physical activity on the sense of security, and the value of the effect accounts for 43.17% of the total effect value. It can be seen from the model that physical activity predicts the sense of security and that self-esteem and psychological capital play an indirect mediating role in it (there are three paths), with a total indirect effect value of 0.153, Bootstrap 95% confidence interval does not contain 0 (LLCL = 0.107,ULCL = 0.205),accounting for 56.46% of the total effect. Among them, the first mediating path: physical activity→self-esteem→sense of security (Path 1), the indirect effect value is 0.062,accounting for 22.88% of the total effect; the second path: physical activity→psychological capital→sense of security (Path 2), the indirect effect value is 0.075,accounting for 27.68% of the total effect; and the third chained mediating path: physical activity→self-esteem→psychological capital→sense of security (Path 3), with an indirect effect value of 0.016, accounting for 5.90% of the total effect, suggesting that research hypothesis H4 is valid. Discussion Physical activity has a significant positive effect on college students' sense of security The results of the study show that there is a correlation between physical activity and sense of security, and physical activity can significantly and positively predict college students' sense of security, which is basically consistent with the results of existing studies 11 – 14 . On the one hand, when individuals feel that external stimuli are beyond their control, they will have anxiety and trauma, and in order to alleviate this status quo and take certain defensive measures to seek a sense of security, different types of physical activity have different degrees of improvement on the sense of security, of which social sports are more helpful to improve the sense of security of college students compared to independent sports, and they can narrow the sense of interpersonal communication through physical activity. distance, so that the feeling of inner uneasiness is weakened, from which a sense of belonging and love is felt, thus obtaining a sense of security 11 . On the other hand, physical activity is an auxiliary treatment for anxiety, psychological fear, depression, and interpersonal interactions, which has a certain promotional effect and positively improves the development of physical health and subjective experience, and at the same time, it has a positive promotional effect on the enhancement of the sense of security 11 – 14 . It can be seen that the importance of physical activity to improve the sense of security, not only can enhance the ability of emotional regulation and social adaptability, but also help college students to establish positive interpersonal relationships, and promote the development of physical and mental health. The mediating effect of self-esteem between physical activity and college students' sense of security The study shows that self-esteem plays a partially mediating role in physical activity and college students' sense of security (the relative mediating effect is 22.88%), indicating that physical activity can not only directly affect college students' sense of security, but also positively affect college students' sense of security indirectly through self-esteem, which verifies this paper's hypothesis 2. On the one hand, physical activity can significantly and positively predict the level of self-esteem, and the former Through meta-analysis of more than 100 studies on the relationship between physical activity and self-esteem, it was concluded that physical activity can improve both overall self-esteem and physical self-esteem, and the more active an individual is in physical activity, the higher the level of self-esteem, which is consistent with the results of many studies 18 – 20 . On the other hand, self-esteem has a significant positive predictive effect on college students' sense of security. Generally speaking, when facing the external environment, individuals with low self-esteem may ignore the care and help from others, underestimate the external support, and find it difficult to get a high level of sense of security; whereas individuals with high self-esteem are more likely to feel the care and encouragement from others, and are able to get more sense of security 21 , 22 . Through this mechanism of action, it can make college students believe more in their own ability and value, and become more determined and self-confident in their hearts, which in turn enhances their ability to cope with challenges and difficulties in all aspects of life. The mediating effect of psychological capital between physical activity and college students' sense of security Physical exercise can positively predict college students' psychological capital, and psychological capital plays a significant mediating effect between physical activity and college students' sense of security, which is basically consistent with existing studies 25 – 29 . On the one hand, psychological capital, as a positive personality trait, not only helps individuals to better face the variables in life, but also improves individuals' ability to resist stress and setbacks, and enhances personal perseverance and self-efficacy. In the process of participating in physical activity, the brain produces endorphins, which can relieve the pressure of study and life, obtain a higher sense of physical and mental pleasure, improve self-efficacy, and promote the further deepening of social relationships. At the same time, the collective sports program makes the social relationship between classmates closer, and the acceptance and support of classmates make the individual experience a higher level of psychological capital, which can help the college students to synchronize physical and mental health and also improve the resilience of will. At the same time, it also enhances the level of tough will and emotional control, thus increasing the level of psychological capital of college students 25 – 27 . On the other hand, psychological capital is a specific embodiment of the sense of security, which not only helps college students to maintain a healthy psychological state in the face of life variables when facing setbacks and difficulties, but also strengthens personal determination and perseverance, promotes college students' self-growth and all-around development, and thus improves the level of college students' sense of security 28 , 29 . This study reveals the dual path of physical activity influence on college students' sense of security by enhancing their psychological capital, so that they will not be overly anxious in the face of challenges and pressures, but will be more resilient, better able to adapt and recover, maintain their inner stability, and actively seek solutions. Chain-mediated effects of self-esteem and psychological capital on the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security This study examined the effects of physical activity, self-esteem and psychological capital on college students' sense of security, and the results showed that the total effect value was β = 0.271. Among them, there were simple correlations between physical activity, self-esteem and psychological capital and sense of security respectively, which could directly predict the effect value of sense of security β = 0.117, i.e., the total indirect effect value of β = 0.153, which indicated that the mediating effect had a greater explanatory power than the direct effect size, in which the third chain path accounted for 5.90% of the total effect (physical activity → self-esteem → psychological capital → sense of security), proving the existence of this chain mediator. Physical activity can not only significantly and positively predict college students' sense of security through the separate mediation of self-esteem and psychological capital, but also jointly affect college students' sense of security through the chain mediation of self-esteem and psychological capital, which also proves the value and significance of the two mediating variables for college students' sense of security. On the one hand, physical activity can not only improve the level of self-esteem of college students, but also improve the level of psychological capital of college students, which has a good promotion effect on both self-esteem and psychological capital 30 . On the other hand, self-esteem has a significant positive predictive effect on psychological capital, and an individual with higher self-esteem will have a somewhat stronger psychological capital, show stronger endurance and resilience, hold a more optimistic attitude, and be more likely to see hope when faced with difficult situations, thus making it easier to obtain a sense of security 32 – 36 . It is conducive to a more comprehensive understanding of the internal mechanism of the influence of physical activity on college students' sense of security, which is of guiding significance for the enhancement of college students' sense of security. It also helps college students dispel negative emotions and shape an optimistic and positive way of thinking, so that they can cope with learning problems and complex interpersonal situations with ease. Conclusions Reach a verdict (1) Physical activity, self-esteem, psychological capital, and sense of security are significantly correlated. (2) Physical activity can significantly and positively predict college students' sense of security, and is an important intervening variable affecting college students' sense of security. (3) Self-esteem and psychological capital not only have a separate mediating role in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security, but also play a chain mediating effect, and this indirect mediating effect has an important influence on the improvement of college students' sense of security. Look forward to In the future, we expect to continue the research in the following aspects: firstly, this study only explores the mediating effect of self-esteem and psychological capital between physical activity and college students' sense of security, and there may be other variables affecting college students' sense of security, such as stress and social support, which are yet to be explored and demonstrated; secondly, this paper mainly belongs to the cross-sectional study and takes college students as the survey group, which may limit the efficacy of the causal inference. In the future, it is necessary to expand the sampling range and sample size, and adopt a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal research methods to explore the causal relationship; finally, experimental research and other methods can be used to explore the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security and various variables. It is expected that this study can improve the reference for college students to obtain a higher sense of security in physical exercise, and provide a basis for schools and parents to understand the sense of security and other aspects of college students. Declarations Data availability The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.If anyone would like to request data from this study, please contact the corresponding author,Shi Lei , [email protected] . Author contributions H-B Z designed the study, collected and analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. Y.Q translate and polish. S.L is responsible for paper revision，supervision and funding acquisition. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.All authors confirm that the manuscript has been submitted solely to this journal and is not published, in press, or submitted elsewhere (including preprint servers). And all the research meets the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements of the study country. All authors have seen the manuscript and approved to submit to your journal. Funding This research was funded by grants from the National Social Science Foundation of China (23BTY058) . Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval The design of this study followed the guidelines and regulations of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by Ethics Committee of Liaoning Normal University (LL2024208), and all participants signed an informed consent form and were paid for their participation. Informed consent Written informed consent was obtained from all the participants and their parents (or legal guardian) prior to this study. Additional information Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi. org/10.1038/s41598-024-72964-1. 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If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. References Xi Jinping presided over. a forum of expert representatives in the field of education, culture, health and sports, emphasizing that comprehensively promoting the development of education, culture, health and sports constantly enhances the people's sense of gain, happiness and security [N]. People's Daily, 2020-09-23(01). People's Republic of China Central People's Government. Circular of the Ministry of Education and 17 other departments on the issuance of the Special Action Plan for Comprehensively Strengthening and Improving Student Mental Health Work in the New Era (2023–2025) [EB/OL]. -04-20). 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Stress level of college students and its relationship with physical exercise[J]. Chin. J. Mental Health , 1994 (1):5–6 . Zhong, C. O. N. G. & AN Lijuan. Preliminary development and reliability and validity tests of the security scale[J]. Chin. J. Mental Health , 2004 (02):97–99 . Rosenberg, M. Societyand the adolescent selfimage (Princeton University Press, 1965). Zhang, G., Zhang, S. & Dong, Y. H. Positive psychological capital:Measurement and its relationship to mental health[J]. Psychol. Behav. Res. 8 (1), 58–64 (2010). Hao, Z. H. O. U. LONG Lirong. Statistical tests and control methods for common method bias[J]. Adv. Psychol. Sci. , 2004 (6):942–950 . Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. 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At the same time, the Special Action Plan to Comprehensively Strengthen and Improve Student Mental Health Work in the New Era (2023\u0026ndash;2025), issued by the Ministry of Education and other seventeen departments, emphasized the need to give play to the role of sports in relieving stress and regulating emotions, and to place mental health work in a prominent position\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. As an important new force driving China's development, the college student population's sense of security is of great significance to the promotion of mental health as well as the development of China as a whole\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. When college students' sense of security is insufficient, it is very easy to cause psychological problems such as anxiety and depression, and even lead to physiological symptoms such as insomnia and loss of appetite\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. This psychological state will further affect their academic performance, and studies have shown that college students with a low sense of security have worse grades and higher failure rates \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. In addition, a lack of security can make college students lack self-confidence, affect their social skills, make them withdraw from interpersonal interactions, and make it difficult for them to establish intimate relationships\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Therefore, the study of college students' sense of security has triggered a great deal of attention from many scholars\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. And physical activity, as a proven way of mental health intervention, has gained the consensus of the whole society. Studies have shown that long-term adherence to physical activity not only helps to cultivate the will quality of perseverance, but also enhances the ability of individuals to cope with life's setbacks, making them more confident in facing challenges and solving problems, which significantly improves the sense of security of Chinese nationals\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. However, combing through the existing studies, we found that there is a scarcity of research on the mechanism of the influence of physical activity on college students' sense of security, and the depth and breadth of the research need to be expanded. Therefore, this study focuses on the special group of college students and explores the mechanism of physical activity on college students' sense of security, in order to provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for physical educators to formulate and implement effective physical education interventions to enhance college students' sense of security.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Theoretical basis and hypothesis","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eThe relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe sense of security is the premonition of possible risks or dangers to the body or the mind, as well as the individual's sense of powerlessness or strength in coping with difficulties, which is mainly manifested in the sense of certainty and controllability \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. According to the theory of stress and coping, when the intensity of external stimuli exceeds the boundaries of the individual's coping resources and regulatory capacity, the individual is very easy to produce traumatic experiences, which in turn breeds anxiety, in order to effectively alleviate anxiety, the individual tends to spontaneously activate the psychological defense mechanism, in order to seek a sense of security \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. The lack of security will also directly reduce the level of psychological health of college students, which may also lead to the occurrence of mental illness \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. The results of this study show that physical activity is not only a key way to improve negative emotions and enhance the sense of security\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e, but also has a significant positive correlation with college students' sense of security, which has a direct predictive effect \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. It can be seen that the prominent role of physical activity in the process of improving college students' sense of security. Accordingly, hypothesis 1 of this paper is proposed.H1: Physical activity has a significant positive predictive effect on college students' sense of security.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Mediating effects of self-esteem","content":"\u003cp\u003eSelf-esteem refers to the corresponding emotional experience of an individual through the evaluation of the self, which includes the dimensions of self-worth and self-competence, and belongs to the emotional component of the self-system \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Fear management theory states that self-esteem is mainly derived from the fear of death, and the self-esteem resources possessed by individuals can reduce and alleviate anxiety \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e16\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. When faced with negative events, self-esteem prompts individuals to adopt some social behaviors to alleviate their internal anxiety and regain a sense of value and meaning for themselves\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e17\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. The results of the study show that physical activity is significantly positively correlated with self-esteem of college students \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e, and when individuals engage in self-initiated types of physical activity, the likelihood of an individual's overall self-esteem improving is even greater\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Through an experimental intervention, it was demonstrated that students who were actively engaged in physical activity had higher levels of self-esteem\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Therefore, physical activity can not only make college students strong and healthy, but also plays an important role in the improvement of college students' self-esteem. Meanwhile, self-esteem has a significant positive predictive effect on college students' sense of security, which is positively correlated with college students' sense of security\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e21\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e, and college students with low self-esteem are difficult to obtain a high sense of security due to a lack of self-confidence, whereas college students with high self-esteem, on the contrary, are more likely to obtain a high sense of security \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e22\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Therefore, self-esteem has an indispensable role in the process of improving college students' sense of security. Accordingly, the research hypothesis 2 of this paper is proposed.H2: Self-esteem plays a mediating role in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Mediating effects of psychological capital","content":"\u003cp\u003ePsychological capital is a positive psychological state shown by individuals in the process of growth, including the dimensions of self-efficacy, optimism, resilience and hope\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. According to psychological capital theory, psychological capital has a positive impact on individual behavior and cognitive enhancement, and is an important resource for personal ability improvement \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e24\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Studies have shown that physical activity can positively predict the level of psychological capital of college students, and college students with high physical activity have high levels of psychological capital \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR26\" citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e27\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Therefore, physical activity is important for the improvement of psychological capital. At the same time, there is a significant positive correlation between psychological capital and college students' sense of security, as a positive psychological state, it has a contributing effect on the formation and development of college students' sense of security, the higher the level of psychological capital of college students, the higher the level of sense of security, and vice versa, the lower it is\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. At the same time, psychological capital can play a buffering role in coping with stress and adversity, thus indirectly enhancing the level of individual's sense of security \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. It can be seen that psychological capital may be a mediating variable between physical activity and college students' sense of security, accordingly, hypothesis 3 of this research paper is proposed.H3: Psychological capital plays a mediating role in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Chain-mediated effects of self-esteem and psychological capital","content":"\u003cp\u003ePhysical activity, self-esteem and psychological capital have significant positive effects on the improvement of college students' sense of security, respectively, and self-esteem and psychological capital play a simple mediating effect in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security, respectively. Social learning theory suggests that individuals can promote the development of their own self-esteem and psychological capital by observing and imitating the positive behaviors and outcomes of others in physical activity situations \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e, which can gain self-recognition and self-affirmation, prompting them to be optimistic, cheerful, and self-confident \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e31\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e, and contributing to a higher sense of security. At the same time, there is a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and psychological capital dimensions, and self-esteem has a positive predictive effect on psychological capital, the higher the self-esteem, the higher the level of psychological capital, and more likely to obtain a sense of security \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR33 CR34 CR35\" citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Therefore, self-esteem may affect the level of psychological capital, which is one of the key factors to improve psychological capital, and the higher the level of self-esteem of college students, the stronger the psychological capital may be. Based on this, the research hypothesis 4 of this paper is proposed.H4: Self-esteem and psychological capital may play a chain mediating role in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs a result, the research hypothesis model is constructed as shown in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Methodology of the study","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eParticipants\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDescription of demographic characteristics of survey respondents\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eForm\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of people\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercentage (%)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDistinguishing between the sexes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMale\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFemale\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e176\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e417\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e70.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGrade\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFreshman year\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSophomore\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eJunior\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSenior\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e276\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e191\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e86\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e40\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e46.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e32.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProfessional category\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eScience and Technology\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHumanities and Social Sciences\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eArts and Sports\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e222\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e256\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e115\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e37.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e43.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOnly child\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e311\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e282\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e52.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e47.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAdd up the total\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e593\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e100\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis paper examines the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security and the mediating role of self-esteem and psychological capital. The four selected scales were synthesized into a comprehensive questionnaire using simple random sampling method. The sample size was determined based on the simple random sampling method. A medium effect size (effect size\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.25), significance level (α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.05), and statistical power (power\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.80) were set according to Cohen's (1988) recommendations \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e37\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. The minimum sample size required for calculations through the G*Power software was 128 individuals. However, considering the complexity of the study and the need for multivariate analysis, we further expanded the sample size. A total of 623 questionnaires were distributed to 623 college students enrolled in universities in Liaoning Province, and 623 questionnaires were recovered through online distribution of questionnaires. Before data analysis, we performed outlier detection on the data. According to the recommendation of Tabachnick and Fidell (2013), extreme values with standardized scores greater than 2 or less than \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;2 were deleted to reduce the impact of outliers on the analysis results\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e38\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. In addition, we assessed the data for normality and the Shapiro-Wilk test showed that the distribution of variable X significantly deviated from the normal distribution (W\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.92, p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05). And SPSS 26.0 was used to calculate the total score and standardized score of each questionnaire, the standardized score not only reflects the position of each student's score in the whole distribution, but also is not affected by the initial data, according to the law of normal distribution, the two standard deviations that are greater than and less than the mean will be excluded\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e39\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e, and the valid questionnaires were obtained as 593, with an effective rate of about 95.2%. Among them, 176 were male (valid percentage of 29.7%) and 417 were female (valid percentage of 70.3%). The demographic characteristics of the survey respondents are described in detail in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eTools and procedures for data collection\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhysical activity rating scale\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS) revised in 1994 by Liang Deqing et al. was used to examine the physical activity behaviors of college students, and with reference to its rating criteria, the time (e.g., how many minutes at a time do you engage in the above intensity physical activities?), frequency (e.g., how many times a month do you perform the above physical activities?) and intensity (e.g., how intensively do you perform physical activity?) and other indicators \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e40\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Each indicator is scored on a 5-point scale, physical activity\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;intensity\u0026times;duration\u0026times;frequency, and the total score is categorized into three grades, including small activity\u0026thinsp;\u0026le;\u0026thinsp;19, medium activity20ཞ42, and large activity\u0026thinsp;\u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;43, and the grade classification is used as an indicator for assessing physical activity. The Clonbach's alpha coefficient for this scale was 0.71.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSense of security scale\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe scale is based on the Sense of Security Scale developed by Congzhong and An Lijuan in 2004, which consists of a total of 16 items, including Sense of Interpersonal Security (e.g., I feel that life is always full of uncertainty and unpredictability.) and certainty of control (e.g., I often worry that I will lose control of my thoughts or feelings.) Two dimensions, each including eight items, each item is scored on a 5-point scale from 1 (very much in line) to 5 (very much out of line), and the total score is the sum of the scores of the items, with higher scores indicating higher levels of security \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e41\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. The alpha coefficient of Clonbach for this scale in this study was 0.93.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSelf-esteem scale\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA 10-item self-esteem scale developed by Rosenberg in 1965 was used, with a 4-point scale consisting of positively scored questions (e.g., I feel that I am a valuable person, at least on the same level as others.) and reverse scoring questions (e.g., I feel worthless from time to time.) The sum of the scores of each item is the total score, and self-esteem is proportional to the score, with low self-esteem\u0026thinsp;≦\u0026thinsp;25, moderate self-esteem 26\u0026ndash;32, and high self-esteem\u0026thinsp;≧\u0026thinsp;33 \u003csup\u003e42\u003c/sup\u003e. The Clonbach's alpha coefficient for this scale in this study was 0.91.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePsychological capital scale\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe scale is based on the Mental Capital Scale developed by Zhang Gao et al. in 2010, with a total of 26 questions on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (fully), including hope (e.g., I feel hopeful about my future.) Self-efficacy (e.g., I care little about the unpleasantness of life.). Optimism (e.g., I feel that there are a majority of good people in society.) and resilience (e.g., I am willing to take on difficult and challenging tasks.). Four dimensions, of which, resilience and self-efficacy dimensions have 7 questions respectively, optimism and hope dimensions have 6 questions respectively, and the sum of the scores of 26 questions is the total score, the higher the score indicates the higher the level of psychological capital \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e43\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. The scale was tested to have good reliability and its clombach alpha coefficient was 0.92 in this study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eStatistical methods\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe data obtained from the survey were analyzed and processed using the statistical software SPSS 26.0, which mainly includes screening out invalid data, reliability analysis, common method bias test, Pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis, etc. Based on the results of the study, the mediation effect test was carried out through the process macro program prepared by Hayes.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCommon method bias test\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eDue to the influence of the measurement environment and other factors, the data obtained from the questionnaire may have the problem of common method bias \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e44\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. The data obtained were subjected to Harman's one-way test and analyzed using SPSS 26.0 for physical activity, security, self-esteem, and psychological capital, and the results showed that the total number of factors with an eigenroot greater than 1 was eight, and the first factor explained 32.29% of the variation, which was less than the 40% critical value, suggesting that there was no common methodological bias in this study.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eA correlation analysis of physical activity, self-esteem, psychological capital and sense of security among college students\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCorrelation analysis of physical activity, self-esteem, psychological capital and sense of security among university students\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"9\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGenders(1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGrade(2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.499\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProfessional category(3)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.079\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.032\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOnly child(4)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.064\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.042\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.056\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePhysical activity(5)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.296\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.576\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.025\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.038\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSense of security(6)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.148\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.146\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.010\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.030\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.302\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSelf-esteem(7)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.135\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.108\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.055\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.069\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.206\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.486\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePsychological capital(8)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.104\u003csup\u003e*\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.090\u003csup\u003e*\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.027\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.029\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.280\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.479\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.335\u003csup\u003e**\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"9\"\u003eNote:* indicates P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05,** indicates P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01, the correlation is significant.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThrough Person correlation analysis of gender, grade, major category, whether they are only child, physical activity, sense of security, self-esteem and psychological capital of college students, it was found that major category and whether they are only child are not correlated with gender, grade, physical activity, sense of security, self-esteem and psychological capital, whereas there is a significant positive correlation between gender and grade and physical activity, sense of security, self-esteem and psychological capital. There was a significant positive correlation between physical activity and sense of security, self-esteem and psychological capital, and a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and psychological capital and sense of security (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eMediation effect test\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRegression model of mediating effects of self-esteem and psychological capital\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRegression equation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOverall fit index\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSignificance of regression coefficients\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eImplicit variable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndependent variable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eβ\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003et\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSense of security\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePhysical activity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.316\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.100\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.060\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.271\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.781\u003csup\u003e***\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSelf-esteem\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePhysical activity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.236\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.056\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.961\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.114\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.347\u003csup\u003e***\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePsychological capital\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePhysical activity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.413\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.170\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.107\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.251\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.988\u003csup\u003e***\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSelf-esteem\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.483\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.441\u003csup\u003e***\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"2\" rowspan=\"3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSense of security\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePhysical activity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.117\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.346\u003csup\u003e***\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSelf-esteem\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.607\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.369\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e48.965\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.543\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.843\u003csup\u003e***\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePsychological capital\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.299\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.930\u003csup\u003e***\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003eNote:** indicates P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01,*** indicates P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMediating effects of self-esteem and psychological capital\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEffect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTrails\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEfficiency value\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStandard error\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLLCL\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eULCL\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEfficiency ratio\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal effect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.271\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.040\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.192\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.350\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e100%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDirect effect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDirect path\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.117\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.035\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.048\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.186\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e43.17%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal indirect effect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.153\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.024\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.107\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.205\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e56.46%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePath 1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.062\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.016\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.032\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.097\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.88%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndirect effect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePath 2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.075\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.021\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.037\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.119\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e27.68%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePath 3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.016\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.005\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.007\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.027\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.90%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eUsing physical activity as the independent variable, sense of security as the dependent variable, and self-esteem and psychological capital as the mediator variables, the chain mediation effect of self-esteem and psychological capital between physical activity and sense of security was tested using SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS 3.4 plug-in controlling for demographic variables such as gender, and the results are shown in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e. The specific steps are as follows: in the first step, using the sense of security as the dependent variable, enter gender, grade level, major category and whether or not an only child, in order to control for the possible effects of these variables on the sense of security of college students. In the second step, a regression model was established by inputting physical activity to examine the total effect of physical activity on the sense of security after controlling for the variables, and it was found that physical activity was able to positively and significantly predict the sense of security (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.271, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), indicating that research hypothesis H1 was valid. In the third step, self-esteem and psychological capital variables were added to the model to test whether they were mediating variables between physical activity and sense of security and whether there was a chain mediating effect. It was found that physical activity could significantly and positively predict the sense of security (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.117, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), self-esteem could positively predict the sense of security (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.543, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), and psychological capital could positively predict the sense of security (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.299, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). It was also found in the test that physical activity was able to significantly positively predict self-esteem (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.114, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001) and psychological capital (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.251, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), and self-esteem was able to positively predict psychological capital (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.483, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). From the above, it can be seen that there is a significant chain mediation between self-esteem and psychological capital in the relationship between physical activity and sense of security, proving that the research hypotheses H2 and H3 of this paper are valid.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eUsing Bootstrap test to repeat the sampling 5000 times, the mediating effects of self-esteem and psychological capital between physical activity and sense of security and confidence intervals were examined separately (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e), and the results showed that the total effect value of physical activity on sense of security was 0.271, and the 95% confidence intervals of the mediating effects of self-esteem and psychological capital did not contain 0 (LLCL\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.192,ULCL\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.350), indicating that the total effect of physical activity on the feeling of security and the mediating effect of the two variables are significant. The value of the direct effect of physical activity on the sense of security is 0.117 (direct path), Bootstrap 95% confidence interval does not contain 0 (LLCL\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.048,ULCL\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.186), indicating that there is a significant direct effect of physical activity on the sense of security, and the value of the effect accounts for 43.17% of the total effect value.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIt can be seen from the model that physical activity predicts the sense of security and that self-esteem and psychological capital play an indirect mediating role in it (there are three paths), with a total indirect effect value of 0.153, Bootstrap 95% confidence interval does not contain 0 (LLCL\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.107,ULCL\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.205),accounting for 56.46% of the total effect. Among them, the first mediating path: physical activity\u0026rarr;self-esteem\u0026rarr;sense of security (Path 1), the indirect effect value is 0.062,accounting for 22.88% of the total effect; the second path: physical activity\u0026rarr;psychological capital\u0026rarr;sense of security (Path 2), the indirect effect value is 0.075,accounting for 27.68% of the total effect; and the third chained mediating path: physical activity\u0026rarr;self-esteem\u0026rarr;psychological capital\u0026rarr;sense of security (Path 3), with an indirect effect value of 0.016, accounting for 5.90% of the total effect, suggesting that research hypothesis H4 is valid.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003ePhysical activity has a significant positive effect on college students' sense of security\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results of the study show that there is a correlation between physical activity and sense of security, and physical activity can significantly and positively predict college students' sense of security, which is basically consistent with the results of existing studies \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR12 CR13\" citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. On the one hand, when individuals feel that external stimuli are beyond their control, they will have anxiety and trauma, and in order to alleviate this status quo and take certain defensive measures to seek a sense of security, different types of physical activity have different degrees of improvement on the sense of security, of which social sports are more helpful to improve the sense of security of college students compared to independent sports, and they can narrow the sense of interpersonal communication through physical activity. distance, so that the feeling of inner uneasiness is weakened, from which a sense of belonging and love is felt, thus obtaining a sense of security \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. On the other hand, physical activity is an auxiliary treatment for anxiety, psychological fear, depression, and interpersonal interactions, which has a certain promotional effect and positively improves the development of physical health and subjective experience, and at the same time, it has a positive promotional effect on the enhancement of the sense of security\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR12 CR13\" citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. It can be seen that the importance of physical activity to improve the sense of security, not only can enhance the ability of emotional regulation and social adaptability, but also help college students to establish positive interpersonal relationships, and promote the development of physical and mental health.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec16\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eThe mediating effect of self-esteem between physical activity and college students' sense of security\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe study shows that self-esteem plays a partially mediating role in physical activity and college students' sense of security (the relative mediating effect is 22.88%), indicating that physical activity can not only directly affect college students' sense of security, but also positively affect college students' sense of security indirectly through self-esteem, which verifies this paper's hypothesis 2. On the one hand, physical activity can significantly and positively predict the level of self-esteem, and the former Through meta-analysis of more than 100 studies on the relationship between physical activity and self-esteem, it was concluded that physical activity can improve both overall self-esteem and physical self-esteem, and the more active an individual is in physical activity, the higher the level of self-esteem, which is consistent with the results of many studies\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR19\" citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. On the other hand, self-esteem has a significant positive predictive effect on college students' sense of security. Generally speaking, when facing the external environment, individuals with low self-esteem may ignore the care and help from others, underestimate the external support, and find it difficult to get a high level of sense of security; whereas individuals with high self-esteem are more likely to feel the care and encouragement from others, and are able to get more sense of security\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e21\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e22\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Through this mechanism of action, it can make college students believe more in their own ability and value, and become more determined and self-confident in their hearts, which in turn enhances their ability to cope with challenges and difficulties in all aspects of life.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec17\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eThe mediating effect of psychological capital between physical activity and college students' sense of security\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003ePhysical exercise can positively predict college students' psychological capital, and psychological capital plays a significant mediating effect between physical activity and college students' sense of security, which is basically consistent with existing studies \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR26 CR27 CR28\" citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. On the one hand, psychological capital, as a positive personality trait, not only helps individuals to better face the variables in life, but also improves individuals' ability to resist stress and setbacks, and enhances personal perseverance and self-efficacy. In the process of participating in physical activity, the brain produces endorphins, which can relieve the pressure of study and life, obtain a higher sense of physical and mental pleasure, improve self-efficacy, and promote the further deepening of social relationships. At the same time, the collective sports program makes the social relationship between classmates closer, and the acceptance and support of classmates make the individual experience a higher level of psychological capital, which can help the college students to synchronize physical and mental health and also improve the resilience of will. At the same time, it also enhances the level of tough will and emotional control, thus increasing the level of psychological capital of college students \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR26\" citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e27\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. On the other hand, psychological capital is a specific embodiment of the sense of security, which not only helps college students to maintain a healthy psychological state in the face of life variables when facing setbacks and difficulties, but also strengthens personal determination and perseverance, promotes college students' self-growth and all-around development, and thus improves the level of college students' sense of security\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. This study reveals the dual path of physical activity influence on college students' sense of security by enhancing their psychological capital, so that they will not be overly anxious in the face of challenges and pressures, but will be more resilient, better able to adapt and recover, maintain their inner stability, and actively seek solutions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eChain-mediated effects of self-esteem and psychological capital on the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study examined the effects of physical activity, self-esteem and psychological capital on college students' sense of security, and the results showed that the total effect value was β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.271. Among them, there were simple correlations between physical activity, self-esteem and psychological capital and sense of security respectively, which could directly predict the effect value of sense of security β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.117, i.e., the total indirect effect value of β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.153, which indicated that the mediating effect had a greater explanatory power than the direct effect size, in which the third chain path accounted for 5.90% of the total effect (physical activity \u0026rarr; self-esteem \u0026rarr; psychological capital \u0026rarr; sense of security), proving the existence of this chain mediator. Physical activity can not only significantly and positively predict college students' sense of security through the separate mediation of self-esteem and psychological capital, but also jointly affect college students' sense of security through the chain mediation of self-esteem and psychological capital, which also proves the value and significance of the two mediating variables for college students' sense of security. On the one hand, physical activity can not only improve the level of self-esteem of college students, but also improve the level of psychological capital of college students, which has a good promotion effect on both self-esteem and psychological capital \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. On the other hand, self-esteem has a significant positive predictive effect on psychological capital, and an individual with higher self-esteem will have a somewhat stronger psychological capital, show stronger endurance and resilience, hold a more optimistic attitude, and be more likely to see hope when faced with difficult situations, thus making it easier to obtain a sense of security \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR33 CR34 CR35\" citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. It is conducive to a more comprehensive understanding of the internal mechanism of the influence of physical activity on college students' sense of security, which is of guiding significance for the enhancement of college students' sense of security. It also helps college students dispel negative emotions and shape an optimistic and positive way of thinking, so that they can cope with learning problems and complex interpersonal situations with ease.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusions","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec19\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eReach a verdict\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1) Physical activity, self-esteem, psychological capital, and sense of security are significantly correlated.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2) Physical activity can significantly and positively predict college students' sense of security, and is an important intervening variable affecting college students' sense of security.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(3) Self-esteem and psychological capital not only have a separate mediating role in the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security, but also play a chain mediating effect, and this indirect mediating effect has an important influence on the improvement of college students' sense of security.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec20\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eLook forward to\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn the future, we expect to continue the research in the following aspects: firstly, this study only explores the mediating effect of self-esteem and psychological capital between physical activity and college students' sense of security, and there may be other variables affecting college students' sense of security, such as stress and social support, which are yet to be explored and demonstrated; secondly, this paper mainly belongs to the cross-sectional study and takes college students as the survey group, which may limit the efficacy of the causal inference. In the future, it is necessary to expand the sampling range and sample size, and adopt a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal research methods to explore the causal relationship; finally, experimental research and other methods can be used to explore the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security and various variables. It is expected that this study can improve the reference for college students to obtain a higher sense of security in physical exercise, and provide a basis for schools and parents to understand the sense of security and other aspects of college students.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eData availability\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.If anyone would like to request data from this study, please contact the corresponding author,Shi Lei , [email protected].\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor contributions\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eH-B Z designed the study, collected and analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. Y.Q translate and polish. S.L is responsible for paper revision，supervision and funding acquisition. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.All authors confirm that the manuscript has been submitted solely to this journal and is not published, in press, or submitted elsewhere (including preprint servers). And all the research meets the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements of the study country. All authors have seen the manuscript and approved to submit to your journal.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis research was funded by grants from the National Social Science Foundation of China (23BTY058) .\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCompeting interests\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no competing interests.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthical approval\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe design of this study followed the guidelines and regulations of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by Ethics Committee of Liaoning Normal University (LL2024208), and all participants signed an informed consent form and were paid for their participation.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInformed consent\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten informed consent was obtained from all the participants and their parents (or legal guardian) prior to this study.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAdditional information\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSupplementary Information\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThe online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi. org/10.1038/s41598-024-72964-1.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCorrespondence\u003c/strong\u003e and requests for materials should be addressed to S.L.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReprints and permissions information\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eis available at www.nature.com/reprints.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u0026rsquo;s note\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOpen Access\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article\u0026rsquo;s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article\u0026rsquo;s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eXi Jinping presided over. a forum of expert representatives in the field of education, culture, health and sports, emphasizing that comprehensively promoting the development of education, culture, health and sports constantly enhances the people's sense of gain, happiness and security [N]. People's Daily, 2020-09-23(01).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePeople's Republic of China Central People's Government. Circular of the Ministry of Education and 17 other departments on the issuance of the Special Action Plan for Comprehensively Strengthening and Improving Student Mental Health Work in the New Era (2023\u0026ndash;2025) [EB/OL]. -04-20). 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Sci.\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cb\u003e2004\u003c/b\u003e(6):942\u0026ndash;950 .\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Physical activity, College students' sense of security, Self-esteem","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5643295/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5643295/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObjective:\u003c/strong\u003e To explore the relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security, as well as the mediating role of self-esteem and psychological capital between the two. This study used a cross-sectional design, and questionnaires were distributed to 593 college students (29.7% male and 70.3% female) selected from selected colleges and universities in the Liaoning region of China through a simple random sampling method. The questionnaires included the Physical Activity Scale, the Sense of Security Scale, the Self-Esteem Scale, and the Psychological Capital Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS 3.4 plug-ins and Bootstrap methods to test the chain-mediated effects of self-esteem and psychological capital.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults:\u003c/strong\u003e (1) there is a positive correlation between physical activity and college students' sense of security, and the direct prediction of sense of security is significant; (2) physical activity can positively predict self-esteem, self-esteem can positively predict psychological capital and sense of security, and psychological capital can positively predict sense of security; (3) self-esteem and psychological capital play a significant mediating role between physical activity and sense of security, and the three mediating effect paths: physical activity → self-esteem → sense of security, physical activity → psychological capital → sense of security and physical activity → self-esteem → psychological capital → sense of security. Conclusions: (1) Physical activity can significantly and positively predict college students' sense of security; (2) Self-esteem and psychological capital play mediating roles between physical activity and college students' sense of security, respectively, and also play chain mediating roles.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"The relationship between physical activity and college students' sense of security: the chain-mediated role of self-esteem and psychological capital","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-04-09 12:16:32","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5643295/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-04-11T14:42:39+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-04-11T08:27:04+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-04-07T05:56:50+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"290022474111178660793581310467790244397","date":"2025-04-06T18:02:14+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-04-06T11:43:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"212814378768365023417016968238180189058","date":"2025-04-06T10:11:45+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"196733919009307687695579498483221796438","date":"2025-04-05T12:00:08+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-04-05T11:55:35+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-04-03T11:28:31+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2025-03-24T03:21:10+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"f5c6e248-0256-43ae-ab7f-b59492e4383d","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 9th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":46762487,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology"},{"id":46762488,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-06-09T16:12:36+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-5643295","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-02484-z","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2025-06-03 15:56:50","publishedOnDateReadable":"June 3rd, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-04-09 12:16:32","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-025-02484-z","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-02484-z","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5643295","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5643295","identity":"rs-5643295","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}