# The effect of exercise intervention on prosocial behavior in junior high school students: the chain mediation effect of empathy and interpersonal relationships

## TL;DR

A 12-week basketball exercise program improved prosocial behavior in junior high students by boosting empathy and interpersonal relationships.

## Contribution

This study identifies empathy and interpersonal relationships as sequential mediators linking exercise to prosocial behavior in adolescents.

## Key findings

- Basketball exercise significantly improved prosocial behavior compared to regular PE classes.
- Empathy and interpersonal relationships each mediated the effect of exercise on prosocial behavior.
- A sequential mediation pathway was found between exercise, empathy, interpersonal relationships, and prosocial behavior.

## Abstract

This study aimed to explore the effects of exercise intervention on prosocial behavior in junior high school students and its underlying mechanisms.

Using convenience cluster sampling, 90 students were selected from two first-grade classes at a secondary school, with 45 assigned to the experimental group and 45 to the control group. The experimental group participated in a 12-week basketball exercise program, consisting of three sessions per week, each accumulating 30 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. The control group attended regular physical education classes as scheduled in the curriculum. Psychological scales were administered to assess variable levels before and after the intervention.

After the intervention, significant main effects of time and interaction effects between time and group were observed in empathy, interpersonal relationships, and prosocial behavior. A significant main effect of group was also found in prosocial behavior. Moreover, empathy and interpersonal relationships mediated the relationship between exercise intervention and prosocial behavior.

Exercise intervention can improve empathy, interpersonal relationships, and prosocial behavior among junior high school students. Specifically, basketball exercise yielded significantly greater benefits than conventional physical education. Exercise indirectly promotes prosocial behavior through the separate mediating roles of empathy and interpersonal relationships, which also form a sequential mediation pathway between exercise intervention and prosocial behavior.