{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,27]],"date-time":"2026-10-27T22:27:30Z","timestamp":1793140050785,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,2]],"date-time":"2025-10-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759363200000},"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. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Female university students face significant barriers to sports participation across diverse cultural contexts, despite its well-documented benefits for physical and mental health. Through a narrative review of 18 studies, this paper synthesizes barriers and identifies multi-level promotion strategies. Findings reveal four interconnected dimensions of obstacles: (a) Physiological barriers, including menstrual health concerns and heightened injury risks due to inadequate skills\/knowledge; (b) Psychological barriers, characterized by body image anxiety, low self-efficacy, and trauma from negative past experiences; (c) Sociocultural barriers, manifesting as gendered stereotypes, lack of social support, and religious-cultural norms restricting participation (e.g., modesty requirements); and (d) Environmental barriers, encompassing male-dominated facilities, unsafe\/inaccessible spaces, and climate-related discomfort. To address these challenges, the review proposes integrated interventions: (a) Physiological strategies include cycle-adapted exercise plans and injury-prevention education; (b) Psychological strategies focus on trauma-informed cognitive restructuring and graduated achievement systems; (c) Sociocultural strategies involve deconstructing gender biases through media representation and creating faith-sensitive spaces (e.g., women-only facilities with visual isolation); (d) Environmental strategies prioritize gender-responsive spatial redesign (e.g., reserved time slots, repurposed underutilized areas). This promotes female college students\u2019 enthusiasm for sports participation and even encourages them to reconstruct the socio-cultural pressures they face.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1658796","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,2]],"date-time":"2025-10-02T05:35:41Z","timestamp":1759383341000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["A narrative review of barriers to and promotion strategies for female college students\u2019 sports participation in a cross-cultural context"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Jiajin","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chuchen","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1111\/nuf.12296","article-title":"How is exercise different from physical activity? 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