{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,14]],"date-time":"2026-08-14T04:30:47Z","timestamp":1786681847534,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,14]],"date-time":"2026-08-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786665600000},"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<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Rural-origin university students in China face distinct psychosocial challenges, with social anxiety being particularly prevalent. Although physical activity is consistently associated with reduced social anxiety, its underlying mechanisms in this population remain unclear, especially regarding the potential statistical mediating roles of body image satisfaction and social capital.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A cross-sectional survey of 965 rural-origin undergraduates was conducted in Yunnan Province, China. Validated instruments assessed physical activity, body image satisfaction, social capital, and social anxiety. Correlation, regression, and associative mediation analyses tested direct and indirect associations.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Physical activity showed a direct negative association with social anxiety (55.5% of total effect). Three indirect pathways emerged: via body image satisfaction (16.5%), via social capital (18.0%), and a sequential pathway (physical activity \u2192 body image satisfaction \u2192 social capital \u2192 social anxiety; 10.5%). The overall association was modest (unstandardized coefficient = \u22120.016 for item-average scores), suggesting limited standalone clinical utility.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Physical activity is associated with lower social anxiety among rural-origin university students through both direct and indirect pathways. Body image satisfaction and social capital serve as critical statistical mediators\u2013independently and sequentially. These findings support integrated, context-sensitive interventions addressing psychosocial determinants beyond physical activity alone.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1879490","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,14]],"date-time":"2026-08-14T04:22:40Z","timestamp":1786681360000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Physical activity and social anxiety among rural-origin university students in Southwest China: exploring potential associative patterns of body image satisfaction and social capital"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Xiangbai","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Physical Education, Kunming University of Science and Technology","place":["Kunming, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Weining","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Physical Education, Kunming University of Science and Technology","place":["Kunming, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qi","family":"Xue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Arts, Yunnan Normal University","place":["Kunming, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","first-page":"136","article-title":"Alternative ways of assessing model fit","volume-title":"Testing Structural Equation Models","author":"Browne","year":"1993"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103","DOI":"10.1080\/10640260290081678","article-title":"Beyond body image as a trait: The development and validation of the body image states scale.","volume":"10","author":"Cash","year":"2002","journal-title":"Eating Disord."},{"key":"B3","volume-title":"A Comparative Study on the Capacity of Generating Social Capital Between Participation in Collective Sports and Individual Sports.","author":"Chen","year":"2022"},{"key":"B4","volume-title":"Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences","author":"Cohen","year":"1988"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1406452","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2024.1406452","article-title":"The impact of physical activity on social anxiety among college students: The chain mediating effect of social support and psychological capital.","volume":"15","author":"Deng","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front. 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