The Nonlinear Effect of Adolescent Self-control and Mental Health: The Mediating Role of School Adaptation and the Moderating Role of Physical Activity

To examines the nonlinear effects of adolescent self-control on mental health and investigates the mediating role of school adaptation and the moderating role of physical activity. We conducted psychological measurements on 2077 high school students from 8 different schools using a psychological scale. The results revealed a U-shaped relationship between adolescent self-control and their mental health and school adaptation. Additionally, school adaptation played a mediating role in the U-shaped relationship between adolescent self-control and mental health. Furthermore, we found that physical activity regulated the indirect effects between adolescent self-control and mental health through school adaptation. The results reveal that adolescents sometimes need to choose between prioritizing internal self or external adaptation strategies to achieve school adaptation, which may lead to excessive depletion of self-control resources and result in a state of "excessive adaptation," thus affecting their mental health. Physical activity can weaken the impact of "excessive adaptation" on mental health by moderating the relationship between adolescent school adaptation and mental health. This study provides new insights into the factors influencing adolescent mental health and advocates for educators to dynamically balance adolescent self-control and school adaptation through reasonable implementation of physical activity to maintain adolescent mental health.