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. 2026 Jun 19;16:28139. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-55031-9

The effects of physical activity on the mental health of college students: chain mediation of smartphone addiction and perceived social support

Panyi Shen 1, Guangbin Bai 1,✉,#, Qiwen Zhang 2, Shuwen Guo 1, Sen Wang 1, Xingbo Zhou 1, Ruidi Wang 1, Wenxia Tong 1,✉,#, Shuqiao Meng 1,✉,#
PMCID: PMC13554159  PMID: 42321229

Abstract

Mental health is the cornerstone of comprehensive development and healthy growth of college students, and a key factor in determining personal achievement and well-being. Physical activity, as a core carrier of education, has a unique value and function in promoting mental health. This study explored the associations of physical activity on college students’ mental health and the mediating roles of smartphone addiction and perceived social support between the two. A convenience sampling method was used to survey 3466 college students using the Physical Activity Rating Scale, Depression-anxiety-stress Scale, Smartphone Addiction Scale, and Perceived Social Support Scale, and structural equation modelling and Bootstrap methods were used to conduct mediation tests and effect analyses of smartphone addiction and perceived social support. ① There was a negative correlation between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress (r=-0.337, P < 0.001), which was a significant direct association with depression-anxiety-stress. ② Physical activity was negatively associated with smartphone addiction, positively associated with perceived social support (r=-0.568, r = 0.091, P < 0.001), smartphone addiction was negatively associated with perceived social support and positively associated with depression-anxiety-stress (r=-0.272, r = 0.593, P < 0.001), and perceived social support was negatively associated with depression-anxiety-stress (r=-0.381, P < 0.001), ③ Smartphone addiction and perceived social support demonstrated a significant statistical mediation pattern in the association between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress. The three paths of mediation effect were as follows: Path 1: Physical activity → smartphone addiction → depression-anxiety-stress, with a mediation effect value of -0.076, 95% CI=[-0.078, -0.071], and the mediation effect accounted for 80.85% of the total effect. Path 2: Physical activity → perceived social support → depression-anxiety-stress, with a mediation effect value of -0.005, 95% CI=[-0.008,-0.002], and the mediation effect accounted for 5.32% of the total effect. Path 3: Physical activity → smartphone addiction→ perceived social support → depression-anxiety-stress, the mediating effect value was − 0.013, 95% CI [-0.015, -0.010], the mediating effect accounted for 13.83% of the total effect. ① Physical activity is significantly negatively correlated with depression-anxiety-stress levels in university student, ② There is a statistical mediation pattern in which physical activity is associated with depression-anxiety-stress among college students through smartphone addiction and perceived social support, respectively, ③ A statistical serial mediation pattern through smartphone addiction and perceived social support was observed for the effect of physical activity on depression-anxiety-stress in the student sample.

Keywords: college students, physical activity, mental health, smartphone addiction, perceived social support

Subject terms: Health care, Psychology, Psychology, Risk factors

Introduction

According to the data of “China’s National Mental Health Development Report” released by the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2024, the detection rate of depression risk in China’s college student population is 21.48%, while the detection rate of anxiety problems has risen to 45.28%. Psychological and behavioral abnormalities, as well as mental disorders triggered by extreme personal events, have become risk factors affecting social stability and public security. Consequently, there is an increasing need for multi-directional construction of mental health service teams1. Mental health refers to the state of mind in which an individual has vitality of life, positive inner experience and good social adaptation, and is able to effectively fulfil his/her physical and mental potentials and positive social functions. In higher education, mental health is the cornerstone of comprehensive development and healthy growth of college students, and is a key factor in determining personal achievement and happiness2. However, college students face multiple challenges, including external environmental pressure, bad habits, limited cognitive development level and insufficient interpersonal perception ability, and are often susceptible to psychological distress and collateral reactions, and then fall into a state of “mental sub-health”3. In recent years, a large number of studies have shown that the stress caused by environmental adaptation difficulties is associated with negative emotions and pessimistic beliefs4. In the process of college students adapting to new environments, emotional problems such as depression, anxiety and stress tend to appear rapidly and have become distinctive features of their mental health problems. Therefore, in-depth investigation of the mechanism underlying college students’ mental health has far-reaching practical and theoretical significance for enhancing the physical and mental benefits of individual college students and shaping a positive and healthy socialised personality.

Physical activity is a kind of sport that takes physical practice and activity load as the means, and fitness, recreation and leisure, health care and rehabilitation as the activity content, in order to enhance physical fitness, promote physical and mental health, and improve and maintain the ability of the organism.According to the emotion regulation framework, physical activity provides opportunities for emotional expression, frustration tolerance, and impulse control—capacities that are central to maintaining good mental health5. Specifically, physical activity enhances social and emotional competence (e.g., discipline, teamwork, and exploratory behavior), increases positive affect, and improves interpersonal skills6. Group sports, in particular, foster self-efficacy, emotional regulation, and empathy through role differentiation and social reciprocity7. Structured programs using situational simulation and task-driven designs have also been shown to improve emotional awareness, cooperation, and impulse control8. Empirical studies have shown a positive association between physical activity and mental health9. College students who engage in moderate or high levels of physical activity report significantly better mental health than those with low activity levels. Based on these theoretical and empirical grounds, we expected that higher levels of physical activity would be associated with lower levels of psychological distress. Therefore, we proposed H1:

H1

Physical activity is negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress among college students.

Smartphone addiction refers to the phenomenon of excessive and uncontrollable use of a smartphone that is associated with significant physiological, psychological and social dysfunction in an individual. The time displacement effect view suggests that individuals have limited resources of time and attention and that an increase in one behaviour or activity is associated with a decrease in another10. Studies have shown that as the time students spend participating in regular physical activity increases, the time they spend on smartphone use significantly decreases, and this structural adjustment of time allocation not only directly reduces the frequency of smartphone use, but also has a significant inhibitory effect on smartphone addictions of college students through the establishment of new behavioural patterns and psychological satisfaction mechanisms11. Relevant studies in sports human science point out12 that physical activity can increase the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase in the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain and enhance the transmission of dopamine signals, which can help to inhibit Smartphone-related psychological cravings and relapse behaviours. In addition, Smartphone addiction is associated with sleep quality of college students, cause study burnout, and may also cause cognitive impairment, and an increased risk of adverse psychological problems13. Meta-analyses have shown that Smartphone addiction among college students is strongly associated with mental health states such as stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness and self-esteem levels14. Over-reliance on digital means such as smartphones to vent emotions is associated with reduced emotional regulation, which is associated with psychological problems such as irritability and social anxiety15. According to the Affective Disorder-Stress Hypothesis theory, college students with smartphone addictions tend to have difficulty in accurately identifying and expressing their own emotions, and this deficit in emotion regulation may weaken their ability to assess challenges and threats, which ultimately is associated with long-term stressful states and depressive moods16. Collectively, these perspectives suggest that smartphone addiction represents a behavioral dependence mechanism that can be alleviated by physical activity, thereby reducing psychological distress. In view of this, this study proposes hypothesis H2.

H2

Smartphone addiction plays a mediating role in the association between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress in college students.

Perceived social support refers to the various forms of support from others that individuals subjectively perceive and experience, which can help individuals deal with stressful events, release negative emotions, and promote the healthy development of individuals’ physical and mental health. It has been shown that physical activity is significantly positively correlated with social support7, and the greater the amount of physical activity, the deeper the individual is immersed in interpersonal interactions, and the more in-depth the social support he or she receives is in the longitudinal direction. College students’ participation in physical activity is associated with increase the frequency of interactions among college students, optimise their social network connections, help construct and enhance social support networks, and obtain more social and emotional resources17. In essence, physical activity is essentially a social activity and an important way to enhance social support. The various kinds of help and support that college students receive in physical activity, including subjective emotional and spiritual comfort, objective material support and the degree of utilisation of support, all have a positive impact on the mental health of individuals. According to the main effect and buffer effect model of social support18, social support has a general gain in the maintenance of college students’ mental health, and can buffer the negative impact of stressful events on the individual’s physical and mental conditions, to maintain good mental health. Research has shown that the level of perceived social support of college students is positively correlated with their mental health19. Specifically, a high level of perceived social support not only strengthens an individual’s sense of self-identity, but also enhances his or her ability to use cognitive reappraisal strategies in stressful situations, and reduces the risk of depression, anxiety, and other psychological problems. On the contrary, when individuals are at lower levels of perceived social support, they tend to be more likely to be overly concerned with their own deficiencies and experience psychological distress such as self-perception bias and emotional dysregulation, which in turn are associated with susceptibility to psychological problems. Therefore, hypothesis 3 (H3) is proposed in this study.

H3

Perceived social support plays a mediating role in the association between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress in college students.

Smartphone addiction is one of the key factors to improve perceived social support. Studies have shown that smartphone addiction is negatively correlated with perceived social support20, and displacement theory offers a theoretical explanation for this association. Excessive reliance on smartphones for online activities is associated with reduced face-to-face social interactions, increased risk of social exclusion, and impaired real-life social functioning21. These factors may, in turn, lower the social support available from one’s environment, thereby decreasing perceived social support. Displacement theory further posits a “real social substitution effect”: increased online interaction crowds out offline social opportunities, reducing both the frequency of face-to-face contact and the development of interpersonal communication skills. Over time, reduced face-to-face interaction may weaken the ability to interpret nonverbal cues and diminish sensitivity to genuine emotional support22, potentially creating a vicious cycle of diminished social competence, lower perceived support, and increased psychological distress23. Taken together, displacement theory suggests a clear sequential pathway: excessive smartphone use displaces offline interactions, leading to reduced real-world social engagement, which in turn is associated with lower perceived social support24. This logic supports the ordering of mediators as smartphone addiction → perceived social support. Recent methodological work on chain mediation25 further validates testing such sequential indirect effects. Therefore, integrating H2 and H3, we propose H4:

H4

Smartphone addiction and perceived social support serially mediate the association between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress among college students.

In summary, based on previous theoretical and empirical findings, this study centers on the core issue of “the mechanism through which physical activity is associated with the mental health of college students” and constructs a serial mediation model. It focuses on how physical activity reduces depression-anxiety-stress through smartphone addiction and enhancing perceived social support, thereby providing a new perspective for mitigating psychological risk behaviors and promoting healthy physical and mental development among adolescents. The hypothesised model of the study is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

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Path coefficient diagram.

Research methodology

Subjects

This study surveyed university students aged 18–22 between March and June 2025. A stratified random sampling method was employed to recruit participants from higher education institutions in Shaanxi Province. First, institutions were stratified by their level of educational provision. Subsequently, 1–2 institutions were randomly selected from each stratum, resulting in a total of five survey sites. Within each selected institution, a second stratification was conducted based on academic discipline and year of study, followed by a proportional random selection of students. A total of 3,590 paper questionnaires were distributed. The required sample size was estimated a priori using G*Power 3.1. With an effect size f = 0.15, α = 0.05, and power (1–β) = 0.95, the analysis indicated a minimum requirement of 217 participants. During collection, a few questionnaires were lost or damaged; thus, 3,586 were returned. After excluding 120 invalid responses due to incomplete data, the final analytic sample comprised 3,466 valid cases, yielding a valid response rate of 98.9%.

Research tools

Physical activity rating scale-3 (PARS-3)

The Physical Activity Rating Scale compiled by the Japanese scholar Gong Kumar Hashimoto and revised by the Chinese scholar Liang Qingde26 et al. was used to measure the rating of physical activity in terms of intensity of participation in activity, frequency, and duration of each activity. The five options for each topic are scored as 1–5 respectively, and the formula is: physical activity = intensity of activity × (duration of activity − 1) × frequency of activity, with higher scores indicating a higher level of physical activity for the individual. In this study, the Cronbach’s α for the overall questionnaire was 0.812. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated a good structural validity of the scales: χ²/df = 3.26(P<0.001), RMSEA = 0.034, CFI = 0.92, GFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95.

Depression-anxiety-stress scale (Depression AnxietyStress Scale-21, DASS-21)

The present explanatory variable for this study was mental health, which was measured using the depression-anxiety-stress Scale Simplified Chinese version developed by Lovibond (1995) and revised by Gong Xu and Xie Xi Yao27. The questionnaire contains three subscales: the Depression Scale, the Anxiety Scale, and the Stress Scale, with a total of 21 questions, and is rated on a four-point scale from 0 to 3 (0 for non-conformity and 3 for always conformity). Higher scale scores indicate higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress and lower levels of mental health among college students. In this study, the Cronbach’s α for the overall questionnaire was 0.956. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated a good structural validity of the scales: χ²/df = 2.75(P<0.001), RMSEA = 0.04, CFI = 0.99, GFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.99.

Smartphone addiction tendency scale (MPATS)

The Smartphone Addiction Tendency Scale for College Students compiled by Chinese scholars Xiong Jie27 et al. was used, with a total of 16 questions containing four dimensions: withdrawal symptoms, highlight behavior, social comfort and mood alteration. The scale is scored on a Likert-5 point scale (1 for complete non-compliance, 5 for complete compliance), with higher scores indicating a greater propensity for Smartphone addiction, and vice versa, a lower propensity for addiction. In this study, the Cronbach’s α for the overall questionnaire was. 0.962. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated a good structural validity of the scales:χ²/df = 1.46(P<0.001), RMSEA = 0.02, CFI = 0.99, GFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.97.

Perceived social support scale (PSSS)

It was measured using the Collaborative Social Support Scale developed by Zimet et al. and revised by Jiang Qianjin28 Chinese isation. The scale consists of three dimensions with 12 questions. The three dimensions are: family support, friend support, and other support. The scale is scored on a 7-point scale (1 for strongly disagree, 7 for strongly agree), and the cumulative score of all the questions represents the individual’s level of perceived social support, and the higher the scale score, the higher the level of perceived social support. In this study, the Cronbach’s α for the overall questionnaire was 0.982.The results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated a good structural validity of the scales:χ²/df = 2.17(P<0.001), RMSEA = 0.03, CFI = 0.99, GFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.99.

Statistical methods

Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 29.0 and AMOS 24.0. Confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive statistics, and Pearson correlation analyses were performed to examine the measurement model and basic relationships. To test the hypothesized mediation, Model 6 from the PROCESS macro (version 4.0) for SPSS was employed, following the analytical procedures recommended for mediation testing. The significance of the indirect effects was assessed using the bias-corrected bootstrap method with 5,000 resamples. A 95% confidence interval that did not include zero indicated a statistically significant mediation effect.

Results

Common method bias test

As this study adopted a self-reported questionnaire method for data collection, potential common method bias may exist. Following the recommendations of previous studies, we adopted procedural controls in advance to reduce common method bias: ① Well-established and mature scales suitable for Chinese college students were selected to ensure rational scale design and item arrangement; ② During the survey, strict anonymity of participants’ personal information was fully emphasized, and respondents were clearly informed that all data were only used for academic research with no other purposes, so as to reduce social desirability bias and careless answering. However, in order to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, this study further used SPSS 29.0 for Harman’s one-way test for common method bias test, and the results showed that there were eight factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, and the variation explained by the first factor was 27.68%, which was less than the critical criterion of 40%, which indicated that there was no significant common method bias in this study.

Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis of variables

The means and correlation coefficients of physical activity, depression-anxiety-stress, smartphone addiction and perceived social supportare shown in Table 1.Physical activity showed a significant negative correlation with depression-anxiety-stress and smartphone addiction (r=-0.337, r=-0.568,P < 0.001), and a significant positive correlation between physical activity and perceived social support(r = 0.091,P < 0.001), depression-anxiety-stress showed a significant negative correlation with perceived social support(r=-0.381,P < 0.001), and a significant positive correlation with smartphone addiction (r = 0.593,P < 0.001), and smartphone addiction showed a significant negative correlation with perceived social support(r=-0.272,P < 0.001).

Table 1.

Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis of variables (n = 3466).

Variable Gender Grade physical activity Depression-anxiety-stress Depression Anxiety Stress Smartphone addiction Perceived social support
Gender 1
Grade -0.013 1
Physical activity − 0.083** 0.077*** 1
Depression-anxiety-stress -0.019 0.040* − 0.337*** 1
Depression − 0.036* 0.067*** − 0.316*** 0.953*** 1
Anxiety -0.008 0.005 − 0.317*** 0.947*** 0.848*** 1
Stress -0.009 0.039* − 0.332*** 0.962*** 0.876*** 0.873*** 1
Smartphone addiction 0.041* -0.017 − 0.568*** 0.593*** 0.560*** 0.550*** 0.584*** 1
Perceived social support 0.092*** − 0.115*** 0.091*** − 0.381*** − 0.383*** − 0.358*** − 0.349*** − 0.272*** 1
M 1.22 1.89 23.16 1.49 1.48 1.46 1.53 36.18 60.89
SD 0.41 0.85 17.38 0.51 0.55 0.50 0.56 14.62 14.51
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Note: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, same below.

Mediated effects test

After controlling for gender and year of study, a multiple regression analysis was conducted using Model 6 of the PROCESS macro for SPSS. The results are presented in Table 2. Physical activity was significantly and negatively associated with depression-anxiety-stress (β = -0.346, t = -21.354, P < 0.001). When smartphone addiction was included as a mediator, physical activity was significantly and negatively associated with smartphone addiction (β = -0.571, t = -40.171, P < 0.001), which in turn significantly and positively associated with depression-anxiety-stress (β = 0.515, t = 30.805, P < 0.001). With the inclusion of the mediator perceived social support, physical activity significantly and positively associated with perceived social support (β = 0.075, t = 3.763, P < 0.001), and perceived social support significantly and negatively associated with depression-anxiety-stress (β = -0.234, t = -16.738, P < 0.001). Finally, smartphone addiction significantly and negatively associated with perceived social support (β = -0.321, t = -16.225, P < 0.001).

Table 2.

Regression model for the mediating role of smartphone addictionand depression-anxiety-stress.

Outcome variable Explanatory variable β SE t R2 F
Depression-anxiety-stress Gender -0.047 0.020 -2.881** 0.120 154.470***
Grade 0.066 0.010 4.073***
Physical activity -0.346 0.001 -21.354***
Smartphone addiction Gender -0.006 0.501 -0.407 0.323 541.203***
Grade 0.027 0.244 1.898
Physical activity -0.571 0.012 -40.171***
Perceived social support Gender 0.098 0.573 6.003*** 0.103 97.154***
Grade -0.114 0.279 -6.970***
Physical activity 0.075 0.017 3.763***
Smartphone addiction -0.321 0.020 -16.225***
Depression-anxiety-stress Gender -0.020 0.017 -1.513 0.405 461.402***
Grade 0.233 0.008 1.740
Physical activity -0.027 0.001 -1.652
Smartphone addiction 0.515 0.001 30.805***
Perceived social support -0.234 0.001 -16.738***
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Subsequently, to examine the mediating roles of smartphone addiction and perceived social support, a bias-corrected percentile bootstrap method was employed for mediation effect analysis. Using 5,000 random bootstrap samples, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated; effects were considered significant if the CI did not include zero. As shown in Table 3; Fig. 2, the total effect of physical activity on depression-anxiety-stress was significant (Effect = -0.101, 95% CI [-0.132, -0.092]). The direct effect was not significant (Effect = -0.008, 95% CI [-0.017, 0.001]), suggesting that smartphone addiction and perceived social support demonstrated a significant statistical mediation pattern the relationship in a serial model. Specifically, physical activity exerted its influence through three significant indirect pathways, with a total indirect effect of -0.094 (95% CI [-0.104, -0.084]). Path 1:physical activity → smartphone addiction → depression-anxiety-stress had an indirect effect of -0.086 (95% CI [-0.078, -0.071]), accounting for 85.15% of the total effect, thus supporting Hypothesis 2. Path 2: physical activity → perceived social support → depression-anxiety-stress had an indirect effect of -0.005 (95% CI [-0.008, -0.002]), accounting for 5.32% of the total effect, supporting Hypothesis 3. Path 3, the serial mediation path: physical activity → smartphone addiction → perceived social support → depression-anxiety-stress, had an indirect effect of -0.013 (95% CI [-0.015, -0.010]), accounting for 13.83% of the total effect, which confirmed Hypothesis 4.

Table 3.

Mediation effect test between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress.

Effect Effect BootSE Boot95%CI Relative mediation effect percent
Total effect -0.101 0.010 -0.132 -0.092 100%
Direct effect -0.008 0.005 -0.017 0.001 -
Total indirect effect -0.094 0.005 -0.104 -0.084 100%
Physical activity→ Smartphone addiction→ Depression-anxiety-stress -0.076 0.005 -0.078 -0.071 80.85%
Physical Activity→ Perceived social support→ Depression-anxiety-stress -0.005 0.002 -0.008 -0.002 5.32%
Physical activity→ Smartphone addiction→ Perceived social support→ Depression-anxiety-stress -0.013 0.001 -0.015 -0.010 13.83%
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Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

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Chain-mediated effects of smartphone addiction and perceived social support.

Discussion

Effect of physical activity on the mental health of college students

The results of the study show that physical activity is significantly negatively correlated with college students’ depression-anxiety-stress, which is basically consistent with the results of existing studies29. In physical activity, college students learn new skills and knowledge. They apply this knowledge while communicating with teachers and classmates during teaching and competition. They also need to handle interpersonal relationships, empathy, and cooperation, which can help improve their interpersonal skills30. At the same time, college students experience difficulties and frustrations, successes and failures in physical activity, which can sharpen their will, enhance their frustration tolerance and stress resistance, and improve their ability to control and regulate their emotions31. In addition, physical activity can alleviate the negative emotions of college students in the face of various pressures, including anxiety, depression, stress, etc32, thus enabling them to have a more positive state of mind and a good state of mental health, which will also have a migratory value for college students in their future growth. College students’ attitudes, emotions, cognition and behavioural patterns of physical activity will encourage college students to participate more actively in physical activity and gain a more positive subjective experience33, which can be migrated to college students’ study, life and work, etc., and can also have a positive impact on their feeling of “empty and helpless” due to the lack of life’s purpose and meaning. “Anxiety and irritability”, “confusion and depression” and “hope to die psychological” and other undesirable psychological problems caused by the physical and mental constraints have a good role in easing34, which is more conducive to the cultivation of excellent psychological quality of college students. The cultivation of excellent psychological quality of college students, the training of strong will quality and the formation of optimistic personality.

Mediating effects of smartphone addiction

The study shows that smartphone addiction plays a mediating role in the association between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress among college students, indicating that physical activity is not only directly associated with depression-anxiety-stress but also indirectly associated via its relationship with lower smartphone addiction. This pattern is broadly consistent with existing studies35. According to the time displacement effect, college students who regularly participate in physical activity can effectively reduce their smartphone use. They shift their attention preference from the virtual world to the real world. This greatly reduces leisure time occupied by screen time and sedentary behavior, helping them appear more positive, active, and full of vitality in daily life. Physical activity can improve the smartphone addiction of college students, and moderate physical activity is better than high physical activity in terms of Smartphone addiction, and only after reaching a moderate level of physical activity, the improvement and promotion effect of physical activity on college students’ smartphone behaviour can be maximized. According to the theory of interpersonal perception, when college students perceive loneliness in social interaction, they are more likely to transfer their emotions to the frequent use of smartphones to satisfy the sense of belonging and pleasure, and become overly dependent on high-frequency smartphone use, which may even trigger depression, social withdrawal, and affect subsequent behaviour. Therefore, reducing the time of smartphone use through physical activity not only helps to improve the Smartphone addiction problem of college students, but also promotes their social interaction and psychological health development.

Mediating effects of perceived social support

Physical activity is positively associated with perceived social support, and perceived social support has a significant mediating effect between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress in college students, which is basically consistent with existing studies36. The results support the social interaction hypothesis, which explains the psychological effects of physical activity. Through conceptual exchange, interpersonal communication, and emotional interaction during physical activity, individuals build or improve their social network structures37. This process helps them obtain various types of support, which positively enhances their relational skills, emotional regulation, and ability to cope with stressful environments38. It can be seen that college students participating in physical activity can increase the channels and opportunities for social interaction, and obtain more help and support from activity organisers and activity companions, including instrumental, emotional and informational aspects39, which has a positive impact on college students’ ability to deal with various mental health problems, and thus promotes the comprehensive development of the state of mental health. In the process of sports learning college students need to communicate with their peers or teachers, form learning teams and collective cognition, feel the emotions of others, and cultivate relationships with others, especially in the practice of group projects, through the special interpersonal communication platform of sports, college students can obtain both subjective emotional and spiritual support and objective material support, which can alleviate the psychological stress and mental tension caused by conflicts. Stress and mental tension caused by conflict40. Perceived social support, as the ability to perceive, understand and utilise social support, can not only help individuals maintain a healthy psychological state in the midst of stress and frustration, and better cope with life’s variables, but also enhance personal determination, perseverance and self-control, and promote personal growth and overall development of individuals41

Chain mediating effects of smartphone addictionand perceived social support

When both smartphone addiction and perceived social support were included in the structural equation model, the direct effect in the serial mediation model was non-significant. This indicates that the association between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress is primarily indirect, operating through the three specified pathways. Why does smartphone addiction reduce perceived social support? Displacement theory suggests that excessive smartphone use displaces time and opportunities for face-to-face interaction, directly reducing offline social encounters42. Consequently, college students with smartphone addiction become immersed in the virtual world and detached from the real world. They tend to neglect the real social support offered by family members, peers, and others43. These deficits often lead to social withdrawal and a heightened sense of exclusion, further diminishing the individual’s perception of available support44. The lack of perceived social support, in turn, may increase psychological distress. Expectation motivation theory points out that the subjective feelings are associated with their physical and mental development. A lack of social support is associated with reduced self-motivation and lower satisfaction with one’s sense of achievement. This may make it difficult to form a positive attitude toward life and study, potentially leading to a state of closure and loneliness. Such a state may further relate to depression, anxiety, interpersonal estrangement, and other undesirable psychological problems, ultimately impeding the physical and mental health and growth of college students The serial mediation effect delineates how physical activity is associated with depression-anxiety-stress through both the individual and combined effects of the two mediators—smartphone addiction and perceived social support. This elucidates the underlying mechanism linking physical activity to depression-anxiety-stress and deepens our understanding beyond previous research on this relationship

Limitations of the study

First, the data in this study came from 3,466 college students from five colleges and universities in Shaanxi Province. Although the sample size was large and demographic variables such as gender and grade level were balanced by random sampling, the sample was still concentrated in general undergraduate colleges and universities in the same province, and it did not cover vocational colleges and universities, art colleges or colleges and universities in the central and western regions. Different types of institutions, regional cultures and economic levels may significantly affect college students’ physical activity habits, Smartphone addiction patterns, and perceptions of social support. Second, the mental health assessment focused on negative psychological states such as anxiety and depression, and did not cover the dimensions of positive psychological capital (e.g., mental toughness, subjective well-being). In the future, a mixed research method can be tried, combining objective data such as accelerometer monitoring of activity intensity and Smartphone application log analysis, and introducing multidimensional mental health indicators. Third, the impact of Perceived social support on mental health may have a cumulative effect, and cross-sectional data are difficult to capture its dynamic process of change. It is recommended that a longitudinal tracking design be used in the future, where variables are measured in stages to clarify the causal direction, or an experimental method is used to validate the temporal mechanism of mediating pathways.Fourth, the cross-sectional design precludes any causal interpretation of the mediation pathways. Although we specified a directional order based on theoretical reasoning, reverse or reciprocal relationships are possible (e.g., poor mental health may increase smartphone addiction). Future research should employ longitudinal or experimental designs to test the temporal sequence of these variables

Conclusion

First, there was a significant correlation between physical activity, depression-anxiety-stress, smartphone addiction and perceived social support. Second, smartphone addiction and perceived social support each demonstrated a simple mediating role in the statistical association between physical activity and depression-anxiety-stress among university students. Third, the serial mediation through smartphone addiction and perceived social support demonstrated a significant statistical mediation pattern in the association between physical activity and students’ depression-anxiety-stress. This significant indirect pathway exerted an important influence on students‘ depression-anxiety-stress.

Author contributions

WXTong, SQMeng and GBBai: Conceptualized and designed the study, data analysis, manuscript writing. PYShen, SWang, SWGuo, XBZhou, QWZhang and RDWang: analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. WXTong, PYShen and SQMeng: Refinement of the study and critical revisions of the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No.24YJC890051); Shaanxi Provincial Social Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 2024Q001, 2024Q014); the 14th Five-Year Education Science Plan Project of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. SGH25Y2674); Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities (Grant Nos. XJSJ25027, XJSJ25026); and Undergraduate Education and Teaching Reform Project of Xidian University (Grant No.B2618).

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The present study was granted approval by the Biomedical Research Ethics Sub-Committee of Henan University (Approval Number: HUSOM2024-640). All procedures were conducted in strict adherence to the ethical standards outlined in the 2013 Declaration of Helsinki. Prior to initiating data collection, informed consent was obtained from all eligible participants.

Footnotes

Publisher’s note

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Wenxia Tong, Shuqiao Meng and Guangbin Bai contributed equally to this work.

Contributor Information

Guangbin Bai, Email: bgb1972@126.com.

Wenxia Tong, Email: twxedu@163.com.

Shuqiao Meng, Email: 18603709526@163.com.

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Associated Data

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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