# Impact of moral education on anomie behaviors in university students’ physical education classes: serial mediation of attitudes toward sports norms and self-efficacy

## TL;DR

This study shows how moral education can reduce rule-breaking behaviors in university sports classes through attitudes and self-efficacy.

## Contribution

It identifies a serial mediation pathway involving attitudes toward sports norms and self-efficacy linking moral education to anomie behaviors.

## Key findings

- Moral education significantly predicts reduced anomie behaviors in physical education classes.
- Attitudes toward sports norms and self-efficacy serially mediate the effect of moral education on anomie behaviors.
- The mediation pathways account for over 70% of the total effect of moral education on anomie behaviors.

## Abstract

Against the backdrop of building an education powerhouse, this study aims to explore the relationship between moral education and anomie behaviors in university physical education classes, and to examine the serial mediating role of attitudes toward sports norms and self-efficacy in this relationship.

A questionnaire survey was conducted among 2,340 undergraduate students from 20 universities across the country. The collected data were organized and analyzed using SPSS Statistics 27.0.

Moral education exerted a significant negative predictive effect on anomie behaviors in physical education classes. This influence was primarily mediated through the serial mediation pathway of attitudes toward sports norms and self-efficacy. The effect sizes for these three pathways were -0.051, -0.018, and -0.013, accounting for 45.54%, 16.07%, and 11.61% of the total effect, respectively.

Moral education directly influences anomie behaviors in university physical education classes. Attitudes toward sports norms and self-efficacy for sports-related norms play a serial mediating role in the relationship between moral education and anomie behaviors in physical education classes.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-025-03867-7.