{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T17:41:36Z","timestamp":1792172496453,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781222400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background\/objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Mental health challenges among Chinese college students represent a significant public health concern. While physical activity is recognized as beneficial for mental health, high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the efficacy of structured interventions and their underlying mechanisms in this population are limited. This study investigated the effects of an 8-week structured physical activity intervention on depression, anxiety, and psychological resilience among Chinese college students, and tested whether resilience mediates the intervention effects.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A three-arm RCT was conducted with 120 students exhibiting mild-to-moderate depression\/anxiety symptoms. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling and randomly allocated to a team-based sports group (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f40), an individual aerobic exercise group (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f40), or a waitlist control group (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f40). The 8-week intervention involved three supervised 60-min sessions per week. Outcomes including depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), anxiety symptoms (GAD-7), and psychological resilience (CD-RISC-10) were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up. Data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models (LMM) for primary outcomes and the PROCESS macro bootstrap mediation procedure for mechanistic pathways.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Both exercise groups demonstrated significant, large reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms compared to the control group at post-intervention (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001, Cohen\u2019s d\u202f=\u202f1.14\u20131.38), with effects maintained at follow-up. Psychological resilience increased significantly in both intervention groups (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). No significant differences were found between the team-based and individual exercise modalities. Mediation analysis revealed that increases in psychological resilience accounted for approximately 45% of the intervention effects on reducing depression and anxiety symptoms.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Structured physical activity, whether team-based or individual, appears to be an effective intervention for reducing depression and anxiety and enhancing psychological resilience among Chinese college students. Psychological resilience appears to serve as a significant mediator of these mental health benefits. These findings suggest the integration of structured exercise programs into university mental health promotion strategies. Future research should investigate long-term sustainability through multi-site RCTs, longer follow-up periods, cross-cultural replication, and neurobiological mediating mechanisms.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1752242","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T05:48:26Z","timestamp":1781243306000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Effects of a structured physical activity intervention on mental health and psychological resilience among Chinese college students: a randomized controlled trial with mediation analysis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Wei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Sports Leisure, Shandong Sport University","place":["Jinan, Shandong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jianlou","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Services and Management, School of Sport Management, Shandong Sport University","place":["Jinan, Shandong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"ACSM'S Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription","year":"2018"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"623","DOI":"10.1037\/abn0000362","article-title":"WHO world mental health surveys international college student project: prevalence and distribution of mental disorders","volume":"127","author":"Auerbach","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. 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