Body appreciation and regulatory emotional self efficacy in the association between physical exercise and social anxiety among Chinese college students

Social anxiety is a salient psychological concern among college students and is closely related to interpersonal adjustment and emotional well-being. This cross-sectional study examined the association between physical exercise and social anxiety among Chinese college students, focusing on the statistical indirect roles of body appreciation and regulatory emotional self-efficacy. A total of 1,869 students mainly from Henan Province, China, completed self-report measures of physical exercise, body appreciation, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, and social anxiety. Pearson correlation analysis and PROCESS Model 6 with 5,000 bootstrap samples were used to examine direct and indirect associations. Physical exercise was negatively associated with social anxiety and positively associated with body appreciation and regulatory emotional self-efficacy. Body appreciation and regulatory emotional self-efficacy were separately involved in significant indirect associations between physical exercise and social anxiety. A sequential statistical indirect association involving body appreciation and regulatory emotional self-efficacy was also observed. These findings suggest that positive body image and emotion-regulation beliefs are relevant psychological resources in the association between physical exercise and social anxiety. Given the cross-sectional design, the findings should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than evidence of temporal or causal ordering.