Open Access

ARTICLE

Sports participation and academic engagement: The chain mediating role of positive affect and life satisfaction

Hongmei Yuan¹, Siting Li^1,2,3,*, Yu Zhang^2,3, Yunheng Zhao¹, Dan Shen¹, E. Scott Huebnerd⁴

1 The Department of Psychological Health Education Center, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China
2 Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China
3 Key Laboratory for Cognition and Human Behavior, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China
4 Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA

* Corresponding Author: Siting Li. Email:

Journal of Psychology in Africa 2025, 35(6), 723-730. https://doi.org/10.32604/jpa.2025.073368

Received 16 September 2025; Accepted 17 October 2025; Issue published 30 December 2025

Abstract

Academic engagement is a key factor in students’ academic success, yet its psychological pathways remain underexplored in the context of physical activity. This study investigated the relationship between sports participation and academic engagement, with a focus on the sequential mediating roles of positive affect and life satisfaction. A total of 1365 Chinese secondary school students (females = 55.09%; mean age = 15.95 years, SD = 1.65) participated in the study. Participants completed the Physical Activity Rating Scale, the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Academic Engagement Scale. Correlation and mediation analyses were conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 23.0 and Hayes’ (2017) PROCESS macro. The results showed that sports participation positively predicted academic engagement, and this relationship was sequentially mediated by positive affect and life satisfaction. These findings suggest that physical activity not only benefits students’ emotional well-being but also promotes their academic involvement. Schools should consider integrating physical activity into educational strategies to foster both psychological and academic development in adolescents.

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Keywords

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