Considering the significance of resilience in coping with adversity, how to improve college students’ resilience is worthy of attention. Previous studies have revealed that physical activity can promote resilience; however, few studies examined the mediating factors between them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of physical activity on resilience, as well as the mediating effects of competence need, autonomy need, and relatedness need between physical activity and resilience. The study involved 2375 college students (1110 males and 1265 females), with an average age of 20.25 years (SD = 2.04). Participants completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form, Basic Needs Satisfaction in General Scale, and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Results showed that physical activity was positively associated with resilience, and the three basic needs played significant mediating roles between physical activity and resilience. The indirect effect of competence need was significantly greater than that of autonomy need and relatedness need. To conclude, physical activity plays an important role in resilience among college students, and the satisfaction of competence, autonomy, and relatedness needs mediates the relationship between physical activity and resilience, among which, competence need appears as the strongest mediator.

ObjectiveSuicide among college students is a major public health problem. Research has confirmed that negative focused disposition had a significant effect on suicidal ideation. This study aims to evaluate somatic anxiety, general distress and depression as mediators of the relationship between negative focused disposition and suicidal ideation.MethodsA total of 1798 college students (942 males) were recruited to complete measures of negative focused disposition, somatic anxiety, general distress, positive affect and suicidal ideation. The mediation models were conducted to assess the mediating effects of somatic anxiety, general distress and depression.ResultsThere was a significant and positive correlation between negative focused disposition and suicidal ideation in Chinese college students. On mediation analysis, somatic anxiety, general distress and depression mediated the relationship between negative focused disposition and suicidal ideation.ConclusionsNegative focused disposition appears to directedly associate with suicidal ideation and can indirectly relate to suicidal ideation through the relation with somatic anxiety, general distress and depression. College students with few positive expectations of the future may benefit from interventions focusing on somatic anxiety, general distress and depression.

Depression, anxiety and stress are common negative emotions among college students. While physical activity is an effective way to reduce the level of negative emotions. However, the mechanisms of physical activity levels affect negative emotions is unclear. Psychological resilience is a positive mental quality closely related to physical activity level and negative emotions. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that psychological resilience may be one of the important bridges between physical activity level and negative emotions. PURPOSE: To explore the mediating effect of psychological resilience on physical activity level and negative emotions in college students. METHODS: A survey of 2375 college students in Shandong province was conducted using Physical Activity Rating Scale 3 (PARS-3), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). SPSS24.0 statistical software was used for descriptive statistics, one-way variance test and Person correlation analysis, AMOS24.0 software was used for structural modeling, and Bootstrap method was used for testing the mediating effect. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: More than 70% of college students are at a low level of physical activity. There were significant differences in psychological resilience and negative emotions among college students with different physical activity levels (P < 0.001). The physical activity level of college students was significantly correlated with psychological resilience, significantly negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, stress and overall negative emotion (P < 0.01). The results of the structural equation model showed that physical activity level can directly affect negative emotions (direct effect = -0.045, 95%CI:-0.085, -0.004) and indirectly affect negative emotions through psychological resilience (indirect effect = -0.067, 95%CI:-0.084, -0.052). The mediating effect of psychological resilience accounts for 59.82% of the total effect. CONCLUSIONS: The level of physical activity can not only directly affect the negative emotions of college students, but also reduce their negative emotions by enhancing their psychological resilience.

What is already known about this topic? The literature has consistently demonstrated that distress rumination following a traumatic event has significant implications for mental health. However, the potential association between distress rumination and suicidality, as well as the underlying mechanisms driving this relationship, remains to be elucidated. What is added by this report? The current study demonstrated a significant, positive correlation between distress rumination and suicidal ideation in college students who have encountered traumatic events. The findings indicate that somatic anxiety serves as a mediator between distress rumination and suicidal ideation. What are the implications for public health practice? Interventions aimed at reducing somatic anxiety may contribute to a decrease in suicidal ideation. Assessing and addressing somatic anxiety symptoms in college students experiencing distressful rumination following traumatic events could potentially lower the risk of suicide.