A103: The Relationship Between Physical Activity, School Adjustment andMental Health in High School Students

<bold>PURPOSE:</bold> School-adaptive behavior refers specifically to the positive and negative behaviors that individuals exhibit in the school environment and can be summarized in terms of both social competence and antisocial behavior. Research has demonstrated that physical activity contributes positively to an individual's physical and mental health and quality of life. It can also improve the adjustment difficulties of adolescents in school and indirectly enhance their school adjustment ability. This study aimed to examine the relationship between physical activity levels and school adjustment behaviors, the mediating role of mental health status, and gender differences among high school students in Shandong Province. <bold>METHODS:</bold> This study used the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents, School Social Behavior Scale, and the SCL-90 Symptom Self-Rating Scale to administer the questionnaire to 9,504 high school students in Shandong Province. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the questionnaires were tested to be above 0.9. We used descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, correlation analysis, linear regression, and mediation effect tests to analyze the data. <bold>RESULT:</bold> The mean age of the respondents was 16.5 years and 47.7% were female. The results indicated that (1) the physical activity and social competence of high school students were statistically significant in terms of gender differences (p &lt; 0.01); (2) The physical activity of the students was significantly and positively correlated with the students’ social competence, negatively correlated with psychological problems (r = 0.122, p &lt; 0.01) (r = -0.115, p &lt; 0.01) and the physical activity (β = 2.245, p &lt; 0.01) (β = -4.489, p &lt; 0.01) and physical activity was a significant and positive predictor of students' social competence and a significant negative predictor of psychological problems (β = 2.245, p &lt; 0.01) (β = -4.489, p &lt; 0.01). (3) The indirect effect of physical activity affecting social competence through mental health status (β = 0.517, 95% BootCI [0.019 – 0.034], p &lt; 0.01), considering the mediating role of mental health status. So, the student's psychological well-being partially mediated the relationship between physical activity and social competence. <bold>CONCLUSIONS:</bold> The study showed that the physical activity of adolescents has an important positive effect on their mental health and school adaptation social competence dimensions, and physical activity affects the social competence of high school students not only directly, but also indirectly through psychological problems. Higher levels of physical activity help to reduce the emergence of psychological problems and, in turn, improve students' social competence. Therefore, encouraging physical activity behavior among adolescents contributes to the development of healthy psychological and personality traits and enhances school adjustment.