{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T06:04:20Z","timestamp":1789365860907,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789344000000},"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":"\n Objective<\/jats:title>\n This study examined the psychological mechanisms and configurational pathways by which water safety knowledge is associated with high-risk swimming behaviors among fifth- and sixth-grade primary school children in Hubei Province, China, with the goal of establishing a theoretical and empirical foundation for targeted drowning-prevention interventions.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n In a hybrid multi-analytical study combining regression-based mediation and fsQCA, we analyzed a single quantitative survey dataset of 1,573 fifth- and sixth-grade primary school children from four schools in Hubei Province, China mean age 11.31 \u00b1 0.46 years; 850 boys (54.04%), 723 girls (45.96%). Data collection employed the self-report Water Safety Knowledge Scale (perceived mastery), Risk Perception Scale, Drowning Risk Attitude Scale, Swimming Self-Efficacy Scale, Sensation Seeking Scale, and Swimming High-Risk Behavior Scale. Regression-based mediation was tested with the PROCESS 4.2 macro (model 82, 5000 bias-corrected bootstrap resamples) in SPSS 27.0, and configurational analysis was conducted in fsQCA 4.2.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n (1) After controlling for the grade factor, water safety knowledge had no significant direct effect on high-risk swimming behaviors (\u03b2 = 0.006,\n t<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.570,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n &gt; 0.05). (2) Bootstrap mediation analysis produced a total effect of\n ES<\/jats:italic>\n = \u22120.037 (\n t<\/jats:italic>\n = \u22122.724,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n &lt; 0.01, 95%\n CI<\/jats:italic>\n [\u22120.059, \u22120.009]). The direct effect was\n ES<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.006 (\n t<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.570,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n &gt; 0.05, 95%\n CI<\/jats:italic>\n [\u22120.014, 0.026]). The mediating effect of risk attitude was\n ES<\/jats:italic>\n = \u22120.035 (95%\n CI<\/jats:italic>\n [\u22120.050, \u22120.020]). The mediating effect of self-efficacy was\n ES<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.002 (95%\n CI<\/jats:italic>\n [0.00001, 0.005]). The mediating effect of sensation seeking was\n ES<\/jats:italic>\n = \u22120.016 (95%\n CI<\/jats:italic>\n [\u22120.023, \u22120.009]). The chain mediating effect of self-efficacy and sensation seeking was significant (\n ES<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.003, 95%\n CI<\/jats:italic>\n [0.001, 0.005]). (3) Configurational analysis of high-risk swimming behaviors yielded an overall solution consistency of 0.887 and coverage of 0.431. The solution yielded seven sufficient configurations; the two configurations with water safety knowledge as a core present condition are foregrounded: the \u201cdisconnect between knowledge and action\u2014attitude deviation\u201d type and the \u201cdisconnect between knowledge and action\u2014impulse breakthrough\u201d type.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n (1) Water safety knowledge is associated with high-risk swimming behaviors through two parallel mediating paths: \u201ccognition - emotion\u201d and \u201cmotivation - impulse\u201d. (2) Configuration analysis shows that the association between water safety knowledge and high-risk swimming behaviors follows a nonlinear, equifinal, and conjunctural pattern. Drowning-prevention interventions for school-age children may benefit from extending beyond knowledge transmission to comprehensive psychological adjustment.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1923831","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T05:40:18Z","timestamp":1789364418000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Knowledge\u2013behavior mechanisms and configurations for drowning prevention among Chinese school-aged children: a hybrid multi-analytical study combining regression-based mediation and fsQCA"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Changlin","family":"Yuan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Hubei Minzu University","place":["Enshi, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xi","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Hubei Minzu University","place":["Enshi, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiping","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Hubei Minzu University","place":["Enshi, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuaifeng","family":"Qiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Hubei Minzu University","place":["Enshi, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Siyang","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Hubei Minzu University","place":["Enshi, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhe","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Hubei Minzu University","place":["Enshi, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hui","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Hubei Minzu University","place":["Enshi, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chao","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Hubei Minzu University","place":["Enshi, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1059","DOI":"10.47197\/retos.v62.107634","article-title":"Water safety awareness, swimming ability and drowning prevention behaviour in Malaysian adolescents: a gender-based analysis: water safety, swimming skills, and drowning prevention in Malaysian adolescents","volume":"62","author":"Abadi","year":"2025","journal-title":"Retos"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1177\/17579759231195561","article-title":"The relationship between health-related knowledge and attitudes and health risk behaviours among Portuguese university students","volume":"31","author":"Alves","year":"2024","journal-title":"Glob. 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