The association between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement: the serial mediating role of basic psychological needs and psychological resilience

Abstract

Objective

To explore the associations among physical education teachers‘ autonomy support, basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and college students’ exercise engagement, and to examine the chain mediating pathways.

Methods

A total of 1,394 college students were investigated by random sampling using the College Students' Exercise Engagement Scale, Physical Education Teachers' Autonomy Support Scale, Basic Psychological Needs Scale, and Psychological Resilience Scale.

Results

(1) Physical education teachers' autonomy support positively predicted college students' exercise engagement; (2) basic psychological needs played a mediating role in the relationship between physical education teachers' autonomy support and college students' exercise engagement; (3) psychological resilience served as a mediating variable in the association between physical education teachers' autonomy support and college students' exercise engagement; (4) basic psychological needs mediated the relationship between physical education teachers' autonomy support and psychological resilience.

Conclusion

Basic psychological needs and psychological resilience exert a chain mediating effect between physical education teachers' autonomy support and college students' exercise engagement. These findings provide empirical evidence and path implications for improving college students' exercise engagement through teaching interventions.

Introduction

Healthy China 2030 Plan Outline has elevated national health to the level of a national strategy. As the main driving force for future social development, the physical and mental health of college students has become a crucial public issue bearing on national development (Issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in October 2016) [1]. However, there is a gap between the actual health status and this strategic goal. According to the Report on the 8th National Survey of Students’ Physical Fitness and Health, although the overall level of students’ physical fitness and health in China has shown an upward trend, the improvement range of the college student group aged 19 to 22 is the most limited, and their physical fitness and health level has not achieved a significant improvement [2]. Studies have shown that exercise engagement is a key factor driving college students to develop stable exercise habits and improve their physical fitness and health [3]. Against this backdrop, exercise engagement is defined as an individual’s positive, persistent, and immersive psychological state and behavioral performance in physical exercise [4]. It has attracted extensive attention in academic circles as a core element for stimulating exercise benefits and fostering lifelong exercise habits [5]. It is not only a key factor in promoting physical fitness and health, but also an important antecedent variable for predicting positive emotions and personal growth [6]. Studies have found that the current extracurricular physical exercise of college students generally presents the characteristics of low intensity, short duration and low frequency, which reflects the reality that their overall level of exercise engagement is insufficient [7]. Then, What represents an effective pathway that correlates with fostering exercise engagement in college students? According to Self-Determination Theory, the external social environment exerts an impact on individuals’ intrinsic motivation and persistent behaviors [8]. As the leading practitioners of physical education in institutions of higher education, physical education teachers’ provision of autonomy support is recognized as a key external resource for stimulating students’ autonomous motivation. However, existing studies have mostly focused on exploring pairwise relationships between variables. There is still a lack of in-depth empirical testing on the chain mediating pathway through which autonomy support is ultimately transformed into stable exercise engagement via a series of internal psychological mechanisms (e.g., the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and the cultivation of psychological resilience). Therefore, this study aims to integrate four variables—physical education teachers’ autonomy support, basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and college students’ exercise engagement—to systematically examine the internal mechanism underlying the impact of autonomy support on exercise engagement.

Physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement

“Engagement” refers to people’s psychological identification with social behaviors, reflecting individuals’ physiological involvement, cognitive arousal, and emotional sensitivity when performing tasks. Its unique experiences of concentration and immersion add more value to life [7]. In contrast, exercise engagement refers to an autonomous, proactive, persistent and immersive psychological state and pleasant experience, reflecting an individual’s rational cognition and role identity toward exercise behaviors [4]. Based on Self-Determination Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, individual behaviors are related to the joint influences of the social environment and individual internal cognitive factors. It can thus be inferred that autonomy support from physical education teachers may serve as a key environmental factor related to the promotion of exercise engagement among college students.

Relevant studies have confirmed this association; for example, Chen (2015) found that teachers’ autonomy support was significantly and positively correlated with junior high school students’ academic engagement [9]; Xu (2021) further pointed out that physical education teachers’ support can not only directly enhance the academic engagement of college students majoring in physical education, but also exert an indirect promotional effect through professional identity and sense of hope [10]. In the context of campus physical education, physical exercise is regarded as a special learning activity. As important agents of the social environment, physical education teachers’ provision of autonomy support (e.g., encouraging choices, offering feedback, and respecting intentions) is likely to exert a positive impact on college students’exercise engagement. Bandura (1986) found that self-efficacy constitutes an important psychological foundation for individuals’ engagement behaviors, and strong efficacy beliefs help to stimulate and maintain individuals’ level of participation in specific activities [11]. In the field of physical exercise, self-efficacy has been proven to be the primary driving factor for exercise engagement [4]. Xu (2021) found that teacher support enhances students’ self-efficacy, which in turn is associated with enhanced exercise engagement among them [12]. Accordingly, Hypothesis 1 is proposed: Physical education teachers’ autonomy support has a significant positive impact on college students’ exercise engagement.

The mediating role of basic psychological needs

Basic psychological needs represent the core construct of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), referring to the inherent nutrients essential for individuals’ healthy development, including three fundamental needs: autonomy, relatedness, and competence. The degree of their satisfaction is the key to stimulating intrinsic motivation and maintaining positive behaviors [13]. According to the theory, the social environment (e.g., supportive strategies employed by teachers, coaches, and supervisors) may be associated with individuals’ intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and mental health, through either supporting or impeding the satisfaction of these basic psychological needs [8]. Therefore, physical education teachers’ autonomy support, as an important social environmental factor, is likely to affect individuals’basic psychological needs and then exert an impact on exercise engagement. Relevant studies have verified the above relationships: Dong (2017) found that self-efficacy is a key antecedent variable affecting college students’exercise engagement [4]; Wang (2023) revealed that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs constitutes an important path to enhance self-efficacy [14]; Luo (2014) indicated that there is a significant positive correlation between the level of physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ satisfaction of basic psychological needs [15]. Accordingly, Hypothesis 2 is proposed: Basic psychological needs play a mediating role between physical education teachers’autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement.

The mediating role of psychological resilience

The research on psychological resilience originated from the observations of children and adolescents in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s: there are significant individual differences in individuals’ adaptive capacity and behavioral outcomes when facing adverse situations. In-depth exploration has revealed that there is still no clear and unified definition of psychological resilience. Traditional studies often regard psychological resilience as a stable personality trait or a dynamic adaptive process [16]. To further reveal its mechanism of action in individuals’ coping with stress and adversity during exercise, this study proposes an integrated perspective: psychological resilience is conceptualized as a positive psychological potential that enables individuals to maintain goals and adapt effectively when confronted with difficulties, fatigue, and setbacks in exercise, and it is a positive and constructible “internal psychological environment”. This perspective is consistent with the triadic reciprocal determinism proposed by Bandura (1977) [17]. The theory suggests that individuals’ behaviors, cognitions, and environmental factors are in continuous reciprocal interaction. As a salient external environmental factor, autonomy support from physical education teachers may be associated with students’ cognitive and emotional states, which in turn is related to the development of their positive internal psychological environment (i.e., psychological resilience), and ultimately linked to their engagement in exercise behaviors. Existing studies have provided evidence for this: Chen (2019) found that teachers’ autonomy support has a positive impact on psychological resilience [18]. Fa and Wang (2021) found that psychological resilience was generally positively associated with exercise engagement. Individuals with higher levels of psychological resilience may be related to higher exercise engagement, which may be achieved by alleviating negative emotions and enhancing positive emotions under stressful circumstances [19]. Accordingly, Hypothesis 3 is proposed: Psychological resilience plays a mediating role between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement.

The chain mediating role of basic psychological needs and psychological resilience

Based on the integrated perspective of Self-Determination Theory proposed by Ryan & Deci [20] and Bandura’s (1977) Triadic Reciprocal Determinism, a social environment that satisfies individuals’ three core basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—serves as the key to stimulating their intrinsic motivation and fostering the development of positive behaviors. As important leaders in college students’ physical exercise, physical education teachers’ provision of autonomy support (e.g., granting the right to choose, encouraging independent initiatives, and offering informational feedback) constitutes an effective need-supportive environment. This external environment directly acts on students’ internal psychological world, thereby enhancing the level of satisfaction of their basic psychological needs and laying the foundation for psychological resilience, a mental resource for coping with stress and challenges. Existing studies have verified the internal developmental pathway from “satisfaction of basic psychological needs” to “psychological resilience”. Yang et al. (2020) found that the satisfaction of athletes’ psychological needs could effectively improve their level of psychological resilience and ultimately enhance their athletic performance [21]. Psychological resilience developed through external environmental support and internal need satisfaction may be directly associated with persistent engagement in exercise behaviors. Accordingly, Hypothesis 4 is proposed: Basic psychological needs and psychological resilience play a chain mediating role between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement.

In summary, to examine the internal mechanism underlying the relationship between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and exercise engagement, a chain mediation model (as shown in Fig. 1) is proposed, and the accompanying hypotheses are to be tested.

Fig. 1.

Chain Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs and Psychological Resilience between Physical Education Teachers’ Autonomy Support and College Students’ Exercise Engagement

Research design

Data sources

A cross-sectional study design was adopted in this research, and the questionnaire distribution, collection, and aggregation were all conducted via the Wenjuanxing platform. To prevent duplicate submissions, each device was restricted to only one questionnaire submission. The questionnaire consisted of four parts: basic demographic information, the Physical Education Teachers’ Autonomy Support Questionnaire, the Basic Psychological Needs Questionnaire, the Psychological Resilience Questionnaire, and the Exercise Engagement Questionnaire.

To ensure the reliability and validity of the research data, the sample size should be at least 5–10 times the number of scale items (Chen et al. 2023) [22], This is crucial for improving the accuracy of statistical analysis and enhancing the stability of results, and it also helps reduce the potential impact of random errors on the research outcomes.Questionnaires were distributed to college students across various universities in Jiangxi Province, with a total of 1,394 questionnaires collected initially. To guarantee data quality, samples with completion time less than 250 s, as well as questionnaires with missing data or obvious anomalies, were excluded. Finally, 1,339 valid questionnaires were included in the analysis, with an effective recovery rate of 96.05%.

Among the 1,339 valid questionnaires, the age of the participants was mostly between 18 and 19 years old. There were 564 males (42.1%) and 775 females (57.9%), showing a relatively balanced gender ratio.

Measurement tools

All scales adopted a 7-point Likert scale, where 1 represented “strongly disagree” and 7 represented “strongly agree”. The levels of individuals’ exercise engagement, physical education teachers’ autonomy support, psychological resilience, and basic psychological needs were indicated by the total scores of all items, with higher scores corresponding to higher levels.

College students’ exercise engagement scale

The Exercise Engagement Scale refers to the Self-rating Scale of College Students’ Physical Exercise Engagement compiled by Chinese scholar Dong Baolin in 2017. Verified by empirical tests, this scale has sound reliability and validity and is well adapted to the research context of this study. Therefore, it was adopted in the present research [4]. The scale comprises 4 dimensions with a total of 20 items: Vigor and Persistence, Concentration and Satisfaction, Value Cognition, and Participation Autonomy.Vigor and Persistence mainly reflect individuals’ emotional states and the degree of persistence in maintaining positive exercise behaviors during physical activity. Concentration and Satisfaction represent the complex experiences of immersion, contentment, and focused attention that individuals derive from exercise. Value Cognition primarily reflects college students’ recognition of their exercise abilities and roles, as well as their perception and cognition of the value of physical fitness. Participation Autonomy indicates that under the guidance of self-determination, individuals can gain a sense of satisfaction from exercise practice and obtain special experiences when their needs are fulfilled (e.g., Physical exercise is a meaningful activity for me).

Physical education teachers’ autonomy support scale

The Physical Education Teachers’ Autonomy Support Scale, originally the Perceived Physical Activity Autonomy Support Scale by Williams and Deci (1996) [23], was translated into Chinese by Xiang Mingqiang and Ding Huali (2014) and used in their paper. Due to its good reliability and validity, this translated version was adopted [24]. This scale is primarily used to measure the level of perceived autonomy support that adolescents experience during physical education classes. It consists of a single dimension with 15 items (e.g., The physical education teacher ensures that I understand my sports goals and how I need to achieve them; The physical education teacher listens to my ideas about things).

Basic psychological needs scale

The Basic Psychological Need Scale used in this study is the one employed by Chinese scholar Song Tianliang (2016) in his research on college students’ physical exercise psychological need satisfaction and exercise behavior. Originally developed by Deci, it was revised by Song into the Chinese version of the Physical Exercise Psychological Need Scale in 2016, with reference to Liu Junsheng’s [25] Chinese Basic Psychological Need Scale, and was selected for its good reliability, validity and compatibility with the physical exercise context [26]. This scale consists of 3 dimensions and 21 items, which is used to measure the satisfaction degree of college students’ psychological needs in physical exercise, including autonomy needs, competence needs, and relatedness needs (belongingness needs). (e.g., During physical exercise, I feel that I can freely express my views and ideas to the people around me).

Psychological resilience scale

The Mental Resilience Scale originates from the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ) compiled by Sheard et al. (2009) [27].Subsequently, this scale was translated into Chinese by Chinese scholars Wang Bin and Ye Lv, and was applied in the study The Effect of Mental Toughness on Athlete Burnout: The Mediating Role of Coping Styles. Relevant findings have demonstrated sound reliability and validity [28].Therefore, the Chinese version translated by Wang Bin and Ye Lv was adopted in this research.This questionnaire consists of 14 items across 3 dimensions, namely confidence, perseverance, and control (e.g., Once I lose my composure, I can regain it immediately). Among these items, items 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are reverse-scored.

Test of construct validity

According to Fornell and Larcker [29], discriminant validity among variables is confirmed if the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) for each dimension is greater than the correlation coefficient between variables (0.755 > 0.57, 0.92 > 0.846, 0.871 > 0.758, 0.868 > 0.753). Meanwhile, the AVE values of all four variables are greater than 0.5, indicating that the variables have convergent validity (Table 1).

Table 1.

Validity Test of the Questionnaire

Convergent Validity			Discriminant Validity
AVE		E	S	PN	M
0.57	E	0.755
0.846	S	0.469	0.92
0.758	PN	0.568	0.576	0.871
0.753	M	0.520	0.592	0.598	0.868

The bold values on the diagonal of discriminant validity are the square roots of AVE, and the values in the lower triangle are the Pearson correlation coefficients of the four variables. S (Physical Education Teachers’ Autonomy Support), PN (Basic Psychological Needs), M (Psychological Resilience), E (Exercise Engagement)

Reliability test

The overall Cronbach’s α coefficient of exercise engagement was 0.987; the coefficients for the dimensions were 0.946 for Vigor and Persistence, 0.944 for Concentration and Satisfaction, 0.928 for Value Cognition, and 0.921 for Participation Autonomy. The Cronbach’s α coefficient of physical education teachers’ autonomy support was 0.984.The overall Cronbach’s α coefficient of basic psychological needs was 0.981; the coefficients for the dimensions were 0.901 for Autonomy Needs, 0.952 for Competence Needs, and 0.968 for Relatedness Needs. The overall Cronbach’s α coefficient of psychological resilience was 0.947; the coefficients for the dimensions were 0.940 for Control, 0.939 for Confidence, and 0.896 for Perseverance. These results indicate that all scales have high reliability.

Test for common method bias

In social science research, when all data are derived from self-reports of the same group of participants, common method bias may pose a potential threat to the accuracy of research results. For this reason, this study adopted Harman’s single-factor test to examine common method bias.

All measurement items (including physical education teachers’autonomy support, basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and exercise engagement) were included in the exploratory factor analysis. The results showed that there were 8 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, among which the variance explained by the first factor was 25.389%, which was lower than the critical criterion of 40%. Based on this, it can be concluded that there is no serious common method bias in this study.

Data analysis

The data collected in this study were analyzed and processed using SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 21.0, with statistical methods including independent samples t-test, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and mediation test adopted. Meanwhile, the SPSS macro program Process developed by Hayes was used to test the mediating roles of basic psychological needs and psychological resilience between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement.

Descriptive analysis and independent samples t-test

The results of descriptive statistical analysis showed that the mean values of all major variables ranged from 4.84 to 5.57 (on a scale of 1 to 7). Specifically, the mean score of physical education teachers’ autonomy support was 5.57 (SD = 1.11); the mean score of college students’ exercise engagement was 4.84 (SD = 1.26); the mean score of basic psychological needs was 5.25 (SD = 1.14); and the mean score of psychological resilience was 5.04 (SD = 1.20).

The independent samples t-test indicated that there were extremely significant gender differences in all variables and their respective dimensions (p < 0.001). In terms of grade differences, significant differences were found between freshmen and sophomores in exercise engagement, basic psychological needs and psychological resilience (p < 0.05), while there was no statistically significant difference in physical education teachers’ autonomy support across different grades (p > 0.05). AS shown in the Tables 2 and 3.

Table 2.

Gender Differences in All Variables and Dimensions (N = 1339)

Variables & Dimensions	Males		Females
	M	SD	M	SD	t
Vigor & Persistence	5.23	1.28	4.08	1.29	16.22***
Value Perception	5.61	1.2	4.82	1.22	11.752***
Concentration & Satisfaction	5.32	1.21	4.37	1.2	14.238***
Participation Autonomy	5.56	1.24	4.66	1.28	12.797***
Exercise Engagement	5.4	1.17	4.44	1.16	14.915***
PE Teachers’ Autonomy Support	5.7	1.14	5.47	1.08	3.747***
Need for Autonomy	5.65	1.12	5.13	1.1	8.413***
Need for Relatedness	5.63	1.14	5.21	1.09	6.833***
Need for Competence	5.46	1.23	4.76	1.22	10.258***
Basic Psychological Needs	5.57	1.15	5.02	1.09	8.813***
Control	5.41	1.22	4.69	1.19	10.363***
Confidence	5.36	1.25	4.7	1.2	10.363***
Commitment	5.53	1.16	4.95	1.1	10.363***
Mental Toughness	5.43	1.18	4.77	1.13	10.363***

 *** indicates an extremely significant difference at \(P<0.001\)

Table 3.

Grade Differences in All Variables and Dimensions (Freshmen vs. Sophomores, N = 1339)

Variables & Dimensions	Freshmen		Sophomores
	M	SD	M	SD	t
Vigor & Persistence	4.509	1.364	4.718	1.503	-2.410*
Value Perception	5.13	1.254	5.208	1.321	-1.003
Concentration & Satisfaction	4.707	1.272	4.947	1.33	-3.013***
Participation Autonomy	5.01	1.324	5.116	1.373	-1.278
Exercise Engagement	4.799	1.231	4.969	1.323	-2.192*
PE Teachers’ Autonomy Support	5.562	1.108	5.581	1.129	-0.273**
Need for Autonomy	5.318	1.135	5.431	1.137	-1.616
Need for Relatedness	5.343	1.137	5.493	1.104	-2.146*
Need for Competence	5.001	1.273	5.204	1.251	-2.593**
Basic Psychological Needs	5.208	1.148	5.371	1.129	-2.310*
Control	4.936	1.236	5.156	1.272	-2.859**
Confidence	4.904	1.258	5.174	1.263	-3.469***
Commitment	5.149	1.161	5.315	1.156	-2.311*
Mental Toughness	4.986	1.189	5.208	1.205	-3.016**

* indicates a significant difference at \(P<0.05\) with statistical significance; ** indicates a highly significant difference at \(P<0.01\); *** indicates an extremely significant difference at \(P<0.001\)

Correlation analysis

The study adopted Pearson correlation coefficients to explore the correlations among physical education teachers’ autonomy support, basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and college students’ exercise engagement. The results are presented in Table 4 below.

*:p＜0.05、**：p＜0.01

As can be seen from Table 4, physical education teachers’ autonomy support was positively correlated with basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and college students’ exercise engagement (r = 0.463, 0.336, 0.395; all p < 0.01). Basic psychological needs were positively correlated with psychological resilience and college students’ exercise engagement (r = 0.324, 0.397; all p < 0.01). Psychological resilience was positively correlated with college students’ exercise engagement (r = 0.537, p < 0.01). The results of correlation analysis provided preliminary support for subsequent hypothesis testing.

Table 4.

Correlation Matrix of Variables

Variables	1	2	3	4	M	SD
1. PE Teachers’ Autonomy Support	1	0.463**	0.336**	0.395**	4.41	1.678
2. Basic Psychological Needs	0.463**	1	0.324**	0.397**	4.75	1.455
3. Psychological Resilience	0.336**	0.324**	1	0.537**	5.55	1.280
4. Exercise Engagement	0.395**	0.397**	0.537**	1	5.44	1.719

*p＜0.05, **p＜0.01

Regression analysis

As can be seen from Table 5, there are significant correlations among physical education teachers’ autonomy support, basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and college students’ exercise engagement. Regression analysis shows that physical education teachers’ autonomy support can positively predict basic psychological needs (β = 0.463, p < 0.001); physical education teachers’ autonomy support and basic psychological needs can positively predict psychological resilience (β = 0.237 and 0.215, respectively, p < 0.001); physical education teachers’ autonomy support, basic psychological needs and psychological resilience can positively predict college students’ exercise engagement (β = 0.169, 0.182 and 0.421, respectively, p < 0.001).

Table 5.

Regression Analysis Between Variables

Dependent Variable	Independent Variable	R	R2	F	β	T
PN	S	0.463	0.214	364.228***	0.463	19.085***
M	S	0.386	0.149	117.309***	0.237	8.33***
	PN				0.215	7.51***
E	S	0.604	0.365	255.379***	0.160	6.689***
	PN				0.182	7.255***
	M				0.421	17.781***

S (Physical Education Teachers’ Autonomy Support), PN (Basic Psychological Needs), M (Psychological Resilience), E (Exercise Engagement)

*** indicates an extremely significant difference at \(P<0.001\)

Test of mediating effect

In accordance with the research hypotheses, the data collected via questionnaires were analyzed, and the SPSS macro program Process was adopted to test the mediating effects. The bootstrap method with 5,000resamples was employed, and the significance of mediation effects was determined by whether the 95% confidence interval (CI) included zero.This study explored the mediating roles of basic psychological needs and psychological resilience in the relationship between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement. The results are presented in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.

Chain Mediating Effects of Basic Psychological Needs and Psychological Resilience in the Relationship Between Physical Education Teachers’ Autonomy Support and College Students’ Exercise Engagement

As shown in Fig. 2, basic psychological needs exerted a significant positive impact on psychological resilience with a path coefficient of 0.215, and all other paths were also significant. These results indicated that the mediating effects were significant, demonstrating that basic psychological needs and psychological resilience played a notable chain mediating role in the relationship between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement. Detailed results of the mediating effects are presented in Table 6 below.

Table 6.

Analysis of Chain Mediating Effects

Effect Type	Path	Effect Value	Proportion	Standard Error	Upper Limit	Lower Limit
Direct Effect	PE Teachers’ Autonomy Support → Exercise Engagement	0.119	42.96%	0.018	0.084	0.153
Total Indirect Effect	-	0.158	57.03%	-	-	-
Indirect Effect 1	PE Teachers’ Autonomy Support → Basic Psychological Needs → Exercise Engagement	0.059	21.29%	0.011	0.038	0.081
Indirect Effect 2	PE Teachers’ Autonomy Support → Psychological Resilience → Exercise Engagement	0.07	25.27%	0.011	0.094	-
Indirect Effect 3	PE Teachers’ Autonomy Support → Basic Psychological Needs → Psychological Resilience → Exercise Engagement	0.029	10.46%	0.006	0.019	0.041
Total Effect	-	0.277	-	0.018	0.084	0.153

The upper and lower limits of the confidence interval refer to the upper and lower limits of the 95% confidence interval, respectively

As can be seen from Table 4, the chain mediating effect in this model was significant, indicating that basic psychological needs and psychological resilience exerted a mediating role in the relationship between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement. The specific paths were as follows: Path 1: Physical education teachers’ autonomy support→basic psychological needs→college students’ exercise engagement, with an statistical indirect effect value of 0.059; Path 2: Physical education teachers’ autonomy support→ psychological resilience→college students’ exercise engagement, with an statistical indirect effect value of 0.07; Path 3: Physical education teachers’ autonomy support→basic psychological needs→psychological resilience→college students’ exercise engagement, with an statistical indirect effect value of 0.029.The mediating effect accounted for 57.03% of the total effect, among which statistical Indirect Effect 1 contributed 21.29%, statistical Indirect Effect 2 contributed 25.27%, and statistical Indirect Effect 3 contributed 10.46%.the direct effect remains significant after including mediators (partial mediation).

Discussion

By constructing a chain mediating effect model, this study explores the impacts of physical education teachers’ autonomy support, basic psychological needs, and mental toughness on college students’ exercise engagement, focusing on the mediating role of basic psychological needs and mental toughness in the relationship between teachers’ autonomy support and students’ exercise engagement. This research has theoretical and practical significance for promoting college students to develop good physical exercise habits and improve their physical fitness.

Physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement

Physical education teachers’ autonomy support significantly and positively predicts college students’ exercise engagement, thus verifying Hypothesis 1. This finding is consistent with the research conclusions of Xu Chengqi (2021) and Dan Yujin (2023). When teachers adopt students’ perspectives, provide options, and offer non-controlling information feedback, they can effectively stimulate students’ intrinsic motivation and sustained engagement in physical exercise [10, 30].

In terms of demographic variables, male students exhibit significantly higher exercise engagement than females, with autonomy support exerting a more pronounced facilitating effect on males. Long-term sociocultural factors shape distinct sports participation patterns: males are often encouraged to engage in high-intensity physical activities from an early age, making them more sensitive to supportive cues in physical education. In contrast, females tend to be more reserved, less likely to take initiative in communicating with physical education teachers—especially avoiding interaction with male teachers, thus overlooking teachers’ autonomy support. Certain physiological constraints during physical activity also affect females’ perception of such support.

Lower-grade students show higher exercise engagement and stronger responsiveness to autonomy support than higher-grade peers. This is largely due to mandatory physical education courses for lower grades, which provide a stable platform for teacher-student interaction. Higher-grade students, however, face practical pressures like postgraduate exam preparation and internships, making their exercise behaviors more prone to interruption by objective conditions and weakening the effectiveness of immediate teaching support.

To better enhance all college students’ exercise engagement, colleges and universities should implement differentiated intervention strategies in physical education. For females, teachers should focus on creating a cooperative, pleasant classroom atmosphere and emphasize exercise’s positive value for physical health and emotional management to boost their participation motivation. For higher-grade students, support should extend beyond in-class settings to after-class scenarios—for example, establishing online sports communities and providing personalized exercise plans to offer a sustainable autonomy-supportive environment during their high-pressure academic period without structured courses.

The mediating role of basic psychological needs

Basic psychological needs play a mediating role between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement, thus verifying Hypothesis 2. Previous studies have confirmed that physical education teachers’ autonomy support significantly and positively predicts basic psychological needs (Ryan, 1986; Vallerand, 1997; Standage, 2006) [31–33]. The improvement of basic psychological needs affects self-efficacy, which is precisely the primary influencing factor of college students’ exercise engagement in physical activities [14]. Meanwhile, based on the Ecological Model of Physical Activity (EMPA), Zhao (2024) argued that the formation and change of physical activity behavior must be examined in connection with external environmental factors [34]. Therefore, physical education teachers’ autonomy support often plays an important role as an external environmental factor to enhance individuals’ exercise engagement.

Specifically, physical education teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviors—such as considering students’ viewpoints and providing informational feedback—may correlate with students’ autonomy need fulfillment, fostering their perception that their behaviors are self-determined. Skills mastered and successful experiences gained in a supportive environment enhance their competence need. Additionally, teacher-student and peer recognition from positive interactions satisfies their relatedness need. When these three basic psychological needs are met, students’ intrinsic motivation for physical exercise is fully aroused: exercise becomes a spontaneous activity bringing pleasure, a sense of achievement and belonging, rather than a task to be completed passively, thereby significantly improving their engagement level.

From the perspective of emotion formation, exercise engagement, as an autonomous, positive, sustained and immersive psychological state accompanied by pleasant experiences, is closely associated with the interaction between the external environment and internal cognition. According to Schachter and Singer’s (1962) two-factor theory of emotion, emotions arise from the interaction of physiological arousal and individuals’ cognitive evaluation of the arousing situation [35]. In physical exercise settings, physical education teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviors act as key social cues, guiding students to interpret exercise-induced physiological arousal—such as elevated heart rate and deeper breathing—as positive, controllable challenges rather than threatening experiences that trigger avoidance. Basic psychological needs satisfied through teachers’ autonomy support, including autonomy and competence, further reinforce this positive cognitive pathway, making positive exercise emotions (e.g., excitement, pleasure) more likely to emerge. This emotional state, tied to internal psychological need fulfillment and positive cognition, may help form motivation for individuals to maintain long-term, high-quality exercise engagement.

Physical education teachers’ role, therefore, goes beyond skill instruction; they are more like “architects” of students’ positive exercise emotions and sustained engagement. By creating an autonomy-supportive classroom environment that encourages exploration and fosters belonging, teachers can fundamentally nurture students’ basic psychological needs. This catalyzes a positive psychological cycle of “need satisfaction→positive emotions→sustained engagement,” effectively boosting the intensity and sustainability of college students’ exercise engagement.

The mediating role of psychological resilience

Psychological resilience plays a mediating role between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement, thus verifying Hypothesis 3, which is consistent with the findings of previous studies. The research shows that the pathway of “autonomy support → psychological resilience → exercise engagement” can be explained from two theoretical perspectives.

First, according to Self-Determination Theory, physical education teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviors (e.g., providing choices and offering rational explanations) can satisfy students’ basic psychological needs, and this state of need satisfaction provides the necessary psychological nourishment for the development of psychological resilience. Hu (2022) found that when students perceive a sense of autonomy and competence in physical activities, they are more willing to actively cope with sports challenges [36], and this process itself constitutes the cultivation of psychological resilience (Li, 2016) [37].

Second, based on Conservation of Resources Theory, psychological resilience, as individuals’ core psychological resource, can help students maintain a positive coping state when facing difficulties and setbacks during exercise [36, 38].

The accumulation of such psychological resources makes students more likely to adhere to their exercise goals, thereby demonstrating a higher level of exercise engagement (Gucciardi et al. 2015) [39]. This finding echoes the conclusion of Chen’s (2019) research in the field of sports psychology that supportive teacher (coach) behaviors can improve athletes’ sports performance by enhancing their psychological resilience [18].

Therefore, physical education teachers should recognize that their teaching behaviors not only affect students’ development of motor skills, but also are related to the shaping of students’ positive psychological qualities. In teaching practice, teachers should consciously cultivate students’ psychological resilience by providing space for choice and encouraging independent exploration. In addition, the design of college physical education courses can consider incorporating explicit cultivation of psychological resilience into teaching objectives, for example, systematically improving students’ level of psychological resilience by setting moderately challenging tasks and conducting attribution training.

The chain mediating role of basic psychological needs and psychological resilience

Verified through a serial mediation model, this study reveals the internal mechanism whereby physical education teachers’ autonomy support is associated with college students’ exercise engagement via the sequential mediating pathway of “basic psychological needs → psychological resilience”, thereby providing support for Hypothesis 4. This finding not only deepens the application of Self-Determination Theory in the field of physical education, but also provides a novel theoretical perspective for understanding how external environments facilitate healthy behaviors through multi-level psychological factors.

Specifically, first, physical education teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviors (e.g., offering choice opportunities and providing rational justifications) may relate to the establishment of a social environment favorable to the satisfaction of students’ basic psychological needs. This supportive environment may further be linked to the fulfillment of three key basic psychological needs in students: the need for autonomy (perceiving behaviors as driven by personal will), the need for competence (experiencing a sense of mastery over activities), and the need for relatedness (feeling connected to others). This finding is fully consistent with the proposition put forward by Ryan and Deci (2017) that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs serves as the foundation of intrinsic motivation [40].

Second, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs provides the essential psychological basis for the development of psychological resilience. According to Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989), the fulfillment of basic psychological needs constitutes a crucial psychological resource for individuals to cope with stressful situations [38]. When students’ basic psychological needs are satisfied, they are more capable of actively addressing difficulties and challenges encountered in physical exercise, and this process fosters the development of psychological resilience (Yang, 2020) [21]. This finding further corroborates the view proposed by Vansteenkiste and Ryan (2013), which posits that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs is related not only to the enhancement of immediate motivation, but also associated with the cultivation of long-term personal resources [41].

When students face inevitable difficulties in exercise, physical education teachers’ autonomy support—an external environment factor—first satisfies their basic psychological needs, addressing students’ willingness to engage in exercise and providing initial motivation for their participation. This fulfilled psychological state, marked by a sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness, helps students build and strengthen their psychological resilience. Students with satisfied needs possess greater inner strength, making them more willing and capable of tackling challenges. When encountering such difficulties, their developed psychological resilience takes effect, enabling them to persist in exercise and maintain stable, long-term engagement.

In summary, basic psychological needs determine whether students are willing to initiate and enjoy individual exercise sessions, while psychological resilience dictates their ability to sustain engagement throughout the long, challenging journey of sports participation. Together, these two variables explain both the “breadth” of exercise engagement—its intensity of enjoyment and concentration—and its “length”—the duration of persistence and stability.

Conclusion and implications

By systematically examining the relationships between physical education teachers’ autonomy support, basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and college students’ exercise engagement, this study draws the following conclusions:

First, regarding differences in demographic variables, significant differences were observed in all variables across the gender dimension. In terms of the grade dimension, except for the dimensions of value cognition and participation autonomy where no significant differences were found, both the overall level of exercise engagement and the overall level of basic psychological needs exhibited significant grade differences. In contrast, physical education teachers’ autonomy support showed no significant grade differences, while psychological resilience presented significant differences in both gender and grade dimensions.

Second, correlation analysis indicated that all variables were significantly positively correlated with each other pairwise, which initially supports the existence of close inherent connections among the variables.

Third, regression analysis further revealed that physical education teachers’ autonomy support, basic psychological needs, and psychological resilience all exerted a significant positive predictive effect on college students’ exercise engagement.

Fourth, results of the mediating effect test indicated that basic psychological needs and psychological resilience form a serial mediating pathway that relates to the connection between physical education teachers’ autonomy support and college students’ exercise engagement. Specifically, physical education teachers’ autonomy support may not only exhibit a sequential association with exercise engagement via the serial mediation of basic psychological needs and psychological resilience, but also may have an statistical indirect linkage to exercise engagement through the independent mediating roles of basic psychological needs or psychological resilience alone. This implies that autonomy support is not only directly correlated with exercise behaviors, but also may be indirectly linked to increased exercise engagement in students by stimulating their intrinsic needs and developing their psychological resilience resources.

Meaning

At the theoretical level, this study deepens and integrates the theoretical framework of health behavior research. First, the research findings incorporate the core construct of Self-Determination Theory (i.e., basic psychological needs) and a key resource of positive psychology (i.e., psychological resilience) into a unified model. It reveals a complete causal chain of “external social environment → internal basic needs → positive psychological traits → sustained exercise behavior” and constructs a comprehensive chain mediation model. This not only verifies the explanatory power of Self-Determination Theory in the field of physical exercise, but also clarifies how external support ultimately fosters positive personal traits that can resist setbacks and maintain behaviors through sequential psychological transformations, thereby promoting the intersection and integration of motivation theories and positive psychology theories.

At the practical level, this study provides a precise intervention pathway for effectively enhancing college students’ exercise engagement and addressing the predicament of their physical health. The research indicates that physical education teachers are valuable resources for stimulating students’ exercise engagement, and the key lies in adopting an autonomy-supportive teaching style. This offers specific directions for the professional development and teaching training of college physical education teachers; teachers should be encouraged and trained to act as “facilitators” of students’ autonomy and “shapers” of their psychological resilience, rather than merely as instructors of motor skills. Specifically, strategies such as reducing controlling instructions, providing meaningful choices, and offering informational feedback can be adopted to systematically satisfy students’ psychological needs, while consciously cultivating their resilience in the process. Therefore, the conclusions of this study can directly guide the reform of college physical education teaching, and provide a key theoretical basis for designing empirically grounded teaching intervention programs targeting internal psychological mechanisms, thereby serving the major practical demand of improving the physical health of adolescents under the background of the “Healthy China 2030” strategy.

Limitations and prospects

Limitations

Given the cross-sectional design employed in this study, all variables were measured at a single time point, which precludes the establishment of causal relationships among variables. Although the model specification in this study is grounded in solid theoretical foundations (Self-Determination Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory), the possibility of reverse or reciprocal relationships cannot be ruled out. For instance, students with higher levels of exercise participation may be more likely to perceive greater autonomy support from instructors or exhibit higher levels of mental toughness. Future research may adopt a cross-lagged design or a longitudinal tracking design to more clearly delineate the dynamic relationships among variables.

Prospects

Given the aforementioned limitations, future research can be advanced in the following aspects. In terms of research design, longitudinal tracking or diary methods can be adopted to conduct multi-time point measurements, so as to clarify the dynamic causal relationships among variables more clearly. A more compelling approach is to implement teaching intervention experiments: by systematically training physical education teachers to adopt autonomy-supportive behaviors and setting up a control group, researchers can test the causal effects of such behaviors on college students’ basic psychological needs, mental toughness and exercise engagement. For measurement strategies, multi-source data should be used to reduce common method bias, and multidimensional scales of autonomy support can also be employed to improve measurement accuracy [42]. In regard to research content, more integrated theoretical models can be constructed. On the one hand, moderating variables such as gender, grade and personality traits can be incorporated to examine the differential applicability of the model across diverse student groups. On the other hand, parallel mediating pathways can be explored—for example, introducing variables including autonomous motivation, exercise identity and team motivation into the model and comparing them with the chain mediating pathway identified in this study, so as to systematically and profoundly clarify the internal mechanism through which physical education teachers’ autonomy support influences exercise engagement.

Authors’ contributions

Each author meets the authorship requirements. Huang huan wrote the main content of the paper and conducted the data analysis. Hu jialing was responsible for data collection and collation. Li Yanli conducts data verification. Li changchun and Xu Lei reviewed and revised the paper. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research and writing was financially supported by the Jiangxi Provincial Social Science Planning Project: Chinese-Style Modernization and Rural Revitalization: Research on the Endogenous Dynamics and Paths of “Village BA” Events (Project No.: 24TY17D).and has been supplemented in the revised manuscript.

Data availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study has been approved by the Biomedical Ethics Committee of Nanchang University (Approval number: NCUREC202511008), and it complies with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants have signed the informed consent forms.

Consent for publication

All participants provided written informed consent for publication of the data and results in this study, except for identifying information, i.e. their email addresses.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.