Empathy and Physical Fitness: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Chinese College Freshmen

Empathy and Physical Fitness: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Chinese College Freshmen | 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 Research Article Empathy and Physical Fitness: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Chinese College Freshmen 扬琴 吴, 明浩 刘, 利昆 卓, 兰 蒋介石, 清 他, 郑 王 This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6905539/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: College freshmen often face challenges in adapting to new academic and social environments, increasing their risk of physical and mental health issues. Empathy, particularly cognitive and emotional components, may influence physical fitness. This study investigates the associations between cognitive and emotional empathy and physical fitness. Methods: A stratified random sample of 3,667 college freshmen (1,588 males; 2,079 females; mean age = 18.40 years, SD = 1.88) from Jiangsu Province, China, was assessed. Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Response Index, and physical fitness was evaluated via the Chinese National Student Physical Fitness Standards, including metrics such as body mass index, lung capacity, and various physical performance tests. Associations were analysed using Pearson correlation and multivariate linear regression, controlling for age, family structure, place of origin, and academic major. Results: Significant differences in empathy and physical fitness measures were observed by gender, family structure, origin, and major. High cognitive empathy (β = 0.060, 95% CI: 0.016, 0.230) and low self-focused emotional empathy (β =-0.086, 95% CI:-0.270,-0.073) were linked to better physical fitness in males. In females, low self-focused emotional empathy (β =-0.086, 95% CI:-0.250,-0.081) was significant, with higher cognitive empathy showing stronger associations with fitness. Other-oriented emotional empathy showed no significant correlations with fitness in either gender. Conclusion: Cognitive empathy is positively associated with physical fitness among college freshmen, while self-focused emotional empathy may have negative effects. These findings highlight the potential of empathy-based interventions to improve physical fitness, with consideration for gender-specific strategies. physical fitness cognitive empathy emotional empathy university freshmen China Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Appendix.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6905539","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":491526562,"identity":"6defb787-b8b6-444e-8f1a-4a6d822b5d07","order_by":0,"name":"扬琴 吴","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Soochow University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"扬琴","middleName":"","lastName":"吴","suffix":""},{"id":491526563,"identity":"a6dd61b9-7cce-4574-b50d-8a536c78583f","order_by":1,"name":"明浩 刘","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Soochow 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Freshmen","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"physical fitness, cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, university freshmen, China","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6905539/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6905539/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground:\u003c/strong\u003e College freshmen often face challenges in adapting to new academic and social environments, increasing their risk of physical and mental health issues. Empathy, particularly cognitive and emotional components, may influence physical fitness. This study investigates the associations between cognitive and emotional empathy and physical fitness. \u003cstrong\u003eMethods:\u003c/strong\u003e A stratified random sample of 3,667 college freshmen (1,588 males; 2,079 females; mean age = 18.40 years, SD = 1.88) from Jiangsu Province, China, was assessed. Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Response Index, and physical fitness was evaluated via the Chinese National Student Physical Fitness Standards, including metrics such as body mass index, lung capacity, and various physical performance tests. Associations were analysed using Pearson correlation and multivariate linear regression, controlling for age, family structure, place of origin, and academic major. \u003cstrong\u003eResults:\u003c/strong\u003e Significant differences in empathy and physical fitness measures were observed by gender, family structure, origin, and major. High cognitive empathy (β = 0.060, 95% CI: 0.016, 0.230) and low self-focused emotional empathy (β =-0.086, 95% CI:-0.270,-0.073) were linked to better physical fitness in males. In females, low self-focused emotional empathy (β =-0.086, 95% CI:-0.250,-0.081) was significant, with higher cognitive empathy showing stronger associations with fitness. Other-oriented emotional empathy showed no significant correlations with fitness in either gender.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusion:\u003c/strong\u003e Cognitive empathy is positively associated with physical fitness among college freshmen, while self-focused emotional empathy may have negative effects. These findings highlight the potential of empathy-based interventions to improve physical fitness, with consideration for gender-specific strategies.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Empathy and Physical Fitness: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Chinese College Freshmen","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-07-29 06:00:56","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6905539/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"2b59ccc5-6ed3-4383-8cf5-02255988261e","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 29th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-03T03:53:40+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-07-29 06:00:56","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6905539","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6905539","identity":"rs-6905539","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}