Relationship Between Physical Activity And Purpose In Life: The Mediating Effect Of Positive Affect

Purpose in life (PIL), defined as the sense that one’s life is goal-oriented, driven, and has direction, is a central concept in positive psychology and is associated with an array of health outcomes. Physical activity (PA) has been consistently identified as a correlate of PIL. However, the underlying mechanism of the relationship between PA and PIL has remained largely unexplored. PURPOSE: To examine whether positive affect, a known contributor to PIL, mediates the relationship between PA and PIL. METHODS: A total of 830 college students (44.9% female, mean age = 19.59 years) voluntarily completed measures of PA (International Physical Activity Questionnaires), PIL (Subscale of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being), and positive affect (Subscale of Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule). Mediation analysis was conducted with a bootstrapping technique to produce 10,000 resamples. PA, PIL, and positive affect were treated as the independent variable, the outcome variable, and the mediator, respectively, while controlling for age and gender. RESULTS: As shown in the figure, increased PA was associated with higher levels of positive affect (β = 0.252, p < 0.001), which in turn contributed to higher levels of PIL (β = 0.446, p < 0.001). The bootstrapping method indicated a significant indirect effect between PA and PIL through positive affect (β = 0.117, 95% CI = [0.078, 0.163]). PA did not show a significant association with PIL when controlling for positive affect (p > 0.05), indicating a full mediating effect of positive affect. CONCLUSIONS: Positive affect may serve as a crucial mediating factor in the relationship between PA and PIL. Further research could explore intervention strategies that focus on increasing positive affect through PA to enhance psychological well-being.