Open Access

ARTICLE

The Relationship between Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood and Behavioral Problems among Chinese Emerging Adults: The Mediating Role of Physical Activity and SelfControl

Jin Kuang¹, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett², Erle Chen³, Zsolt Demetrovics^4,5, Fabian Herold⁶, Rebecca Y. M. Cheung⁷, Daniel L. Hall⁸, Michaela Markwart⁸, Markus Gerber⁹, Sebastian Ludyga⁹, Arthur F. Kramer^10,11, Liye Zou^1,*

1 Body-Brain-Mind Laboratory, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
2 Department of Psychology, Clark University, 01610, MA, USA
3 Shenzhen College of International Education, Shenzhen, 518172, China
4 Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming, University of Gibraltar, GX11 1AA, Gibraltar
5 Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1239, Hungary
6 Research Group Degenerative and Chronic Diseases, Movement, Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, 14476, Germany
7 School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG1, UK
8 Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, USA
9 Department of Sport, Exercise & Health, University of Basel, Basel, 4091, Switzerland
10 Center for Cognitive & Brain Health, Northeastern University, Boston, 02115, USA
11 Beckman Institute, University of Illinois, Illinois, 60001, USA

* Corresponding Author: Liye Zou. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Movement Behaviors and Well-being Among Emerging Adults)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2023, 25(8), 937-948. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2023.029187

Received 02 January 2023; Accepted 06 February 2023; Issue published 06 July 2023

Abstract

Emerging adulthood (EA) is a critical stage of life to develop and sustain a healthy lifestyle, which is also a time of vulnerability to poor physical and mental health outcomes. In this study, we conducted a path analysis (N = 1326) to examine associations among four dimensions of EA, levels of regular physical activity (PA), self-control, MPA tendency and irrational procrastination. Results found: 1) higher levels of PA predicted both MPA tendency (β = −0.08, 95% CI: −0.11 to −0.06, p < 0.001) and irrational procrastination (β = −0.01, 95% CI: −0.17 to −0.008, p < 0.01) indirectly via self-control; 2) Instability (β = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.18, p < 0.01) and Responsibility (β = −0.06, 95% CI: −0.10 to −0.08, p = 0.03) exerted direct effects on irrational procrastination and Instability also indirectly predicted irrational procrastination via MPA tendency (β = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.05, p < 0.01). These findings proved that perceived features of EA are linked to behavioral problems and supported that regular PA plays a crucial role to protect mental health.

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