The relationship between physical exercise and learning engagement among chinese college students: the chain mediating roles of cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience

This cross-sectional study reveals a significant positive association between physical exercise and learning engagement among Chinese college students. The findings support a model in which cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience act as sequential mediators in this relationship. These results suggest that fostering psychological resources alongside physical activity may be a relevant consideration for promoting student engagement in learning. Future longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to establish causality.

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Publication Details

Journal
Frontiers in Psychology
Published
2026-01-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1731426
Primary Topic
Resilience and Mental Health
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

The relationship between physical exercise and learning engagement among chinese college students: the chain mediating roles of cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience

Lifang Zheng, Jin Han, Zigu Zhang, Mingyang Liu et al.
Frontiers in Psychology
Resilience and Mental Health
article

The relationship between physical exercise and learning engagement among chinese college students: the chain mediating roles of cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience

Lifang Zheng, Jin Han, Zigu Zhang, Mingyang Liu, Zhijian Rao
article en

Abstract

This cross-sectional study reveals a significant positive association between physical exercise and learning engagement among Chinese college students. The findings support a model in which cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience act as sequential mediators in this relationship. These results suggest that fostering psychological resources alongside physical activity may be a relevant consideration for promoting student engagement in learning. Future longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to establish causality.

Frontiers in PsychologyVol. 17
Shanghai University (CN), Shanghai Normal University (CN), China Institute of Sport Science (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Openalex Percentile: Top 83%
Resilience and Mental Health
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