The effect of integrating situational frustration education into physical education teaching on the psychological resilience of junior high school students: a 16 week parallel controlled teaching experimental study

Objective Insufficient psychological resilience among adolescents has become a critical public health concern that urgently needs to be addressed in China’s basic education sector. Physical education serves as a natural vehicle for implementing frustration education and enhancing adolescents’ psychological resilience. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and indigenous frustration education theory, this study aims to construct a systematic curriculum system integrating situational frustration education into junior high school physical education, and examine its intervention effect on students’ psychological resilience through a 16-week parallel controlled teaching experiment, so as to provide theoretical basis and practical reference for junior high school physical education to achieve the goal of integrated development of physical and mental education. Methods Using a cluster sampling method, a total of 114 students from two parallel Grade 8 classes at No. 2 Middle School of Xuyong County, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province were recruited as participants. One class was randomly assigned to the experimental group ( n = 57) and the other to the control group ( n = 57). The experimental group received physical education integrated with situational frustration education, while the control group received conventional physical education. The Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescents (RSCA) was administered to both groups before and after the experiment. Independent-samples t-tests, paired-samples t-tests, repeated-measures mixed ANOVA, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were performed using SPSS 29.0 software. Results (1) Repeated-measures mixed ANOVA revealed a significant Time × Group interaction effect on the total psychological resilience score ( F = 6.896, p = 0.010, partial η 2 = 0.058). ANCOVA results showed that after controlling for baseline scores, the post-test total psychological resilience score of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group ( p < 0.001). (2) In the experimental group, students’ scores on the dimensions of Emotion Control, Goal Focus, Interpersonal Assistance, and Positive Cognition improved significantly after the experiment ( p < 0.05), while no significant change was observed in the Family Support dimension ( p > 0.05). (3) In the control group, students’ scores on Emotion Control, Goal Focus, and Positive Cognition improved significantly ( p < 0.05), while no significant changes were found in Interpersonal Assistance and Family Support ( p > 0.05). (4) Situational frustration education significantly improved psychological resilience in both male and female junior high school students, with no significant gender difference in the intervention effect ( p > 0.05). Conclusion Integrating situational frustration education into physical education can significantly improve the overall psychological resilience of junior high school students, and its effect is significantly better than that of conventional physical education. It exerts differential improvement effects on various dimensions of psychological resilience, significantly enhancing students’ abilities in emotion control, goal focus, interpersonal assistance, and positive cognition, making it an effective practical pathway for implementing mental health education objectives in junior high school physical education.