{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T05:06:11Z","timestamp":1784264771967,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784246400000},"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>Physical literacy, the integrated motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding that underpins lifelong physical activity, has been advanced as a holistic determinant of health. Yet, evidence linking it to positively framed mental well-being in adults remains scarce and is dominated by samples of children and adolescents.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Aim<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study examined the association between physical literacy and mental well-being in Turkish adults and tested whether both constructs differed by sex, educational attainment, athletic background, regular exercise participation, and habitual physical activity level.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      In a cross-sectional design, 375 adults (64.5% male; mean age = 32.23 years, SD = 11.03, range 18\u201371), a convenience sample skewed toward physically active and tertiary-educated men, completed validated Turkish measures of physical literacy and mental well-being. Active-living exposures were assessed using a single self-report item. Internal consistency was high (physical literacy \u03b1 = 0.89, \u03c9 = 0.90; mental well-being \u03b1 = 0.92, \u03c9 = 0.92). Pearson correlations,\n                      <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic>\n                      -tests, one-way ANOVAs, and hierarchical regression were computed with effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals; discriminant validity was tested directly, and an exploratory mediation was examined.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Physical literacy was moderately and positively associated with mental well-being (\n                      <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.45,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.001), and the two constructs showed evidence of empirical distinctness (HTMT = 0.52, 95% CI [0.42, 0.63]). Adults with an athletic background and regular exercisers reported higher physical literacy (\n                      <jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.83 and 1.09) and mental well-being (\n                      <jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.36 and 0.63), and both outcomes increased in an ordered gradient across habitual activity-frequency categories (physical literacy \u03b7\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      = 0.21; mental well-being \u03b7\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      = 0.07). Physical literacy explained 11% of incremental variance in well-being beyond demographic and behavioral covariates (\u03b2 = 0.41). Men scored marginally higher than women on both measures, educational attainment was weakly related to mental well-being but not physical literacy, and physical literacy declined modestly with age (\n                      <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\n                      = \u22120.18).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Higher physical literacy co-occurs with better mental well-being in adults and remains associated with mental well-being after adjustment for covariates, positioning it as a candidate target for adult mental health promotion. The cross-sectional design and active, educated convenience sample preclude causal and population-level inference, and independent confirmatory validation of the adapted instrument is needed before these findings are treated as more than provisional.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1908692","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T04:23:40Z","timestamp":1784262220000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Physical literacy and mental well-being in adults: a cross-sectional examination of their association and links with physical activity engagement"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Bekir Erhan","family":"Orhan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Sports Sciences, Istanbul Ayd\u0131n University","place":["Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Walaa Jumah","family":"Alkasasbeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Sport Science, The University of Jordan","place":["Amman, Jordan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ayd\u0131n","family":"Kara\u00e7am","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Sport Sciences, Band\u0131rma Onyedi Eyl\u00fcl University","place":["Bal\u0131kesir, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lu\u00eds","family":"Branquinho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biosciences School of Elvas, Polytechnic University of Portalegre","place":["Elvas, Portugal"]},{"name":"Life Quality Research Center (LQRC-CIEQV)","place":["Santarem, Portugal"]},{"name":"Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development","place":["Covilh\u00e3, Portugal"]},{"name":"Centro De Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o Do Instituto Superior De Ci\u00eancia Educativas (CI-ISCE)","place":["Penafiel, Portugal"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adam Tawfiq","family":"Amawi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Movement Sciences and Sports Training, School of Sports Science, The University of Jordan","place":["Amman, Jordan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1017","DOI":"10.3390\/children12081017","article-title":"Perceived physical literacy levels in Spanish adolescents: Differences between sexes and age groups.","volume":"12","author":"Alb\u00e9niz-P\u00e9rez","year":"2025","journal-title":"Children"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0288541","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0288541","article-title":"Physical literacy assessment in adults: A systematic review.","volume":"18","author":"Boldovskaia","year":"2023","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1110","DOI":"10.1111\/aphw.12429","article-title":"Moving well-being well: Using machine learning to explore the relationship between physical literacy and well-being in children.","volume":"15","author":"Britton","year":"2023","journal-title":"Appl. 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