Physical exercise and social anxiety among college students: the sequential mediating roles of social adaptation and peer relationships

To examine the association between physical exercise and social anxiety among college students and its potential statistical pathways, and to analyze the chained mediating roles of social adaptation and peer relationships. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 300 college students using the physical exercise scale, the social anxiety scale, the social adaptation scale, and the peer relationship scale. Physical exercise was significantly and negatively associated with social anxiety among college students. The standardized total association between physical exercise and social anxiety was significant (β = − 0.477, 95%CI[− 0.569, − 0.362]). After social adaptation and peer relationships were included as sequential mediators, the standardized direct association remained significant (β = − 0.232, 95%CI[− 0.342, − 0.121]), accounting for 48.61% of the total association. The standardized total indirect association was also significant (β = − 0.245, 95% CI[− 0.337, − 0.167]), accounting for 51.39% of the total association. The three specific indirect associations were significant: physical exercise → social adaptation → social anxiety (β = − 0.178, 95%CI[− 0.252, − 0.113]), physical exercise → peer relationships → social anxiety (β = − 0.047, 95%CI[− 0.100, − 0.008]), and physical exercise → social adaptation → peer relationships → social anxiety (β = − 0.021, 95%CI[− 0.046, − 0.004]). These findings suggest that social adaptation and peer relationships partially accounted for the association between physical exercise and social anxiety, both independently and sequentially. (1) Physical exercise was significantly and negatively associated with social anxiety and positively associated with social adaptation and peer relationships; (2) Both the direct and indirect associations between physical exercise and college students’ social anxiety were significant; (3) Physical exercise statistically predicted college students’ social anxiety through the independent mediating roles of social adaptation and peer relationships, as well as through the chained mediating role of social adaptation and peer relationships.