The effects of perceived sport environment on sport gains of Chinese university students: chain mediation between physical activity behavior and sport learning self-efficacy

(1) There were significant differences in age and gender between college students' perceptions of sport environment, sport gains, sport exercise behavior, and sport learning self-efficacy, and the mean scores of each scale were better for male students than for female students. (2) Perception of sports environment was significantly positively correlated with sports gain, and perception of sports environment had a direct positive effect on sports gain. In addition, sport environment perception positively predicted physical activity behavior and sport learning self-efficacy; physical activity behavior significantly predicted sport learning self-efficacy and sport gains; physical learning self-efficacy was a significant positive predictor of sport gains. (3) Physical activity behavior and physical learning self-efficacy played a significant chained mediating role between perceived physical environment and physical gains. These results are important for promoting physical education learning outcomes among college students and provide a theoretical basis for developing interventions. However, there are limitations to this study, such as the specificity of the sample and the self-reported data used. Future research could expand the sample and utilize multiple assessment methods to validate these results.