Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Oct 2022)
The Effect of Physical Activity on Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Subjective Well-Being and the Moderating Role of Gender
Abstract
Jianing Tian,1 Hongyan Yu,1 Larry Austin2 1Department of Physical Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2International Division, Shanghai Gezhi Middle School, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Hongyan Yu, Department of Physical Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: To explore the role of subjective well-being in the relationship between physical activity (PA) and anxiety and whether the model is moderated by gender.Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey by selecting 1153 college students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, and data were analyzed using SPSS, Process, and AMOS.Results: 1) Correlation analysis showed that PA, subjective well-being, and anxiety were significantly related. Also, we found subjective well-being to differ significantly on the demographic variable registered residence. 2) Subjective well-being played a mediating role between PA and anxiety. 3) Gender played a moderating role in the direct effect of PA on anxiety, shown by the significant difference in the path coefficients between the male and female models (male: β = − 0.03, p > 0.05, female: β = 0.10, p < 0.05).Conclusion: Subjective well-being mediated the relationship between PA and anxiety, and gender moderated the mediating model. These findings highlight the importance of PA in reducing anxiety and increasing subjective well-being in the context of an epidemic.Keywords: subjective well-being, physical activity, anxiety, college students
