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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1434624
This article is part of the Research Topic New Approaches for Improving Equity in Mental Health Research, Treatment, and Policy View all 14 articles

The mediating effect of resilience between physical activity and mental health: a meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach

Provisionally accepted
Hao Lin Hao Lin 1*Yuying Zhu Yuying Zhu 1Qingzao Liu Qingzao Liu 1,2Shan Li Shan Li 1
  • 1 Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
  • 2 School of Economics and Management, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: While the correlation between physical activity (PA) and mental health is well known, the mediating mechanism of resilience between the two variables remains unclear.Objectives: To systematically evaluate the relationship between PA and mental health, and explore the mediating role of resilience between them.Methods: A systematic search of electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest, Ebsco, China Knowledge, and China Biomedical Database) was conducted to identify relevant studies, and meta-analytic procedures were used to assess the strength of the relationships between PA and mental health. Furthermore, a meta-analytic structural equation model (MASEM) was used to assess the mediating effects of resilience, ensuring the reliability of our findings.Results: The findings of 15 studies (17,043 subjects) were subjected to meta-analysis and route analysis. The findings of the meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant positive correlation of 0.288 (95% CI: 0.166-0.402) between PA and positive indicators of mental health, as well as a statistically significant negative correlation (95% CI: -0.342--0.171) with negative indicators of mental health. Furthermore, the results of MASEM path analysis indicated that PA may indirectly impact both positive and negative indicators of mental health through the mediating factor of resilience. The indirect effect values were 0.108 (95% CI: 0.080-0.141) and -0.074 (95% CI: -0.100--0.051), respectively, accounting for 40.15% of the total effect value and 28.91%. Conclusion: Physical activity is positively correlated with positive indicators of mental health and negatively correlated with negative indicators of mental health. Moreover, PA can positively influence mental health through the mediating role of resilience.

    Keywords: physical activity, Mental Health, resilience, Meta-analysis, Structural Equation Modeling

    Received: 18 May 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lin, Zhu, Liu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hao Lin, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China

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