Relationships among social support, healthy lifestyle beliefs, physical literacy, and enjoyment of physical activity: a moderated mediation model

The model developed in this study found social support in PA predicted health lifestyle beliefs, positively, and significantly. Social support and perceptions of a healthy lifestyle are moderated by physical literacy, research shows. A further analysis also found that the relationship between physical literacy and social support is moderated by enjoyment of physical activities. However, the association between social support and healthy lifestyle beliefs and between physical literacy and healthy lifestyle beliefs were not appreciably influenced by enjoyment in physical activity. The findings indicated that social support has a positive and significant effect on physical literacy and attitudes toward healthy lifestyle. Physical literacy was identified as a central contributor to improving adolescents' health habits by mediating the relationship between social support and conceptions of healthy living. However, the enjoyment of fitness did not matter in some situations, the study found. These results further illustrate the importance of promoting social support and physical literacy instruction to promote a wellness lifestyle adoption by adolescents. The possible long-term effects of feeling good about exercising in various settings, and for health-related habits, should receive more scrutiny.