Psychological Mechanisms and Empirical Research Progress of Sports Interventions in Promoting the Socialization of Left-Behind Children

This study reviews the psychological mechanisms and empirical research pro-gress of sports interventions in promoting the socialization of left-behind chil-dren. Findings indicate that prolonged parent-child separation exposes these children to multiple socialization risks, while sports activities play a unique role in facilitating socialization due to their multifaceted functions. However, this effect is influenced by various factors including individual psychological char-acteristics and activity context design. Existing research reveals that physical education promotes socialization by enhancing mediating variables such as psychological capital and perceived social support. Nevertheless, limitations exist, including narrow variable dimensions, methodological shortcomings, re-gional constraints, and a lack of diversity in intervention types. Future research should deepen the construction of multi-path psychological mechanism models, strengthen longitudinal tracking and mixed-method studies, and emphasize in-novation in localized intervention programs alongside home-school-community collaboration. This will foster a more scientifically rigorous and widely applica-ble research framework.