{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T04:53:26Z","timestamp":1791176006860,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791158400000},"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:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study examined the direct and specific indirect associations among perceived academic demands, chronic time pressure, leisure-time physical activity, and psychological distress in Chinese university students.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A cross-sectional online survey included 1,390 undergraduates from 10 higher-education institutions in Jiangsu Province, China. Perceived academic demands, chronic time pressure, and psychological distress were modeled as latent variables, whereas log-transformed leisure-time physical activity was modeled as an observed variable. Confirmatory factor analysis and covariate-adjusted structural equation modeling were conducted. Specific indirect associations were estimated using 5,000 bootstrap resamples with bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The adjusted structural model showed good fit (CFI = 0.966, TLI = 0.959, RMSEA = 0.034, SRMR = 0.024). Perceived academic demands were positively associated with chronic time pressure (\u03b2 = 0.539) and psychological distress (\u03b2 = 0.382). Chronic time pressure was positively associated with psychological distress (\u03b2 = 0.334) and negatively associated with leisure-time physical activity (\u03b2 = \u22120.179), whereas leisure-time physical activity was negatively associated with distress (\u03b2 = \u22120.097; all\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.001). The specific indirect association through chronic time pressure was\n                      <jats:italic>B<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.182 (95% bias-corrected CI [0.134, 0.236]), whereas the serial specific indirect association additionally involving leisure-time physical activity was considerably smaller (\n                      <jats:italic>B<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.010, 95% bias-corrected CI [0.005, 0.018]).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The indirect association through chronic time pressure was substantially larger than the serial indirect association additionally involving leisure-time physical activity, indicating that leisure-time physical activity made only a minimal additional contribution within the concurrent structural model. These findings highlight chronic time pressure as a relevant correlate of student psychological distress and support further investigation of academic time organization alongside opportunities for physical activity. Because the data were cross-sectional, temporal mediation and causal direction cannot be established.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1984531","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T04:37:23Z","timestamp":1791175043000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Perceived academic demands and psychological distress among Chinese university students: structural associations involving chronic time pressure and leisure-time physical activity"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Zhikai","family":"Gong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Changzhou University","place":["Changzhou, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gang","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Changzhou University","place":["Changzhou, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhuang","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Changzhou University","place":["Changzhou, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","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 Abnorm Psychol."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"106244","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2025.106244","article-title":"Prevalence of mental disorder symptoms among university students: an umbrella review","volume":"175","author":"Paiva","year":"2025","journal-title":"Neurosci 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