The relationship between perceived outdoor sports atmosphere and social-emotional competence among college students: the mediating role of core self-evaluation and the moderating role of digital health literacy

Objective This study aims to explore the relationship between the perceived outdoor sports atmosphere and social-emotional competencies among college students, with a focus on examining the mediating role of core self-evaluation and the moderating role of digital health literacy, to provide empirical evidence for understanding the psychosocial mechanisms underlying the development of social-emotional competencies among college students. Methods Using convenience sampling, we selected 1,218 college students in Chongqing as survey participants. The survey utilized the Outdoor Sports Atmosphere Scale, the Core Self-Evaluation Scale, the Digital Health Literacy Scale, and the Social-Emotional Competence Scale. We analyzed the data using SPSS 27.0 and the PROCESS 4.1 plugin. The significance of the mediating and moderating roles was tested using the bias-corrected Bootstrap method (with 5,000 resampling iterations). Results The perceived outdoor sports atmosphere was significantly positively associated with social-emotional competence (β = 0.232, p < 0.001). Core self-evaluation showed a significant indirect association with the relationship between the perceived outdoor sports atmosphere and social-emotional competence (indirect effect = 0.124, 95% CI [0.100, 0.150]), accounting for 34.73% of the total effect. Digital health literacy positively moderates the relationship between the perceived outdoor sports atmosphere and core self-evaluation (interaction term β = 0.135, p < 0.001); the higher the level of digital health literacy, the stronger the positive association of the perceived outdoor sports atmosphere with core self-evaluation, thereby indirectly associated with higher social-emotional competence. Conclusion Perceived outdoor sports atmosphere was positively associated with social-emotional competence, both directly and indirectly via core self-evaluation; furthermore, digital health literacy, as a moderating factor, is linked to a stronger positive effect of the perceived outdoor sports atmosphere on core self-evaluation. These findings expand our understanding of the cognitive pathways linking the perceived outdoor sports atmosphere to college students' social-emotional competencies and the individual literacy conditions on which these pathways depend, providing valuable insights for promoting college students' participation in outdoor sports and enhancing their social-emotional competencies.