Green exercise and kinesiophobia among Chinese adolescents: the mediating role of self-efficacy

TL;DR

This study finds that green exercise reduces fear of movement in Chinese adolescents, partly through increased self-efficacy.

Contribution

The study introduces green exercise as a novel predictor of kinesiophobia and identifies self-efficacy as a partial mediator.

Findings

Green exercise is significantly associated with lower kinesiophobia in adolescents.

Self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between green exercise and reduced kinesiophobia.

Structural equation modeling confirms direct and indirect effects of green exercise on fear-related behaviors.

Abstract

Kinesiophobia is a common psychological barrier to physical activity during adolescence and is characterized by fear-related attention to bodily sensations and avoidance of movement. This study examined whether green exercise is associated with lower kinesiophobia among adolescents and whether self-efficacy statistically mediates these associations, drawing on social cognitive theory.

A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 1,099 Chinese students in Grades 5–9 (aged 10–15 years); adolescents. Participants completed validated self-report measures of green exercise (5 items), self-efficacy (10 items), and kinesiophobia (13 items; somatic focus and activity avoidance). Descriptive statistics, multiple regression (controlling for gender, grade, and place of residence), structural equation modeling (SEM), and bias-corrected bootstrap tests (5,000 resamples) were used to evaluate the hypothesized relationships.

In multiple regression analyses, green exercise (β = −0.217; β = −0.289) and self-efficacy (β = −0.279; β = −0.266) were significant negative predictors of somatic focus and activity avoidance, respectively (all p < 0.001), with modest explained variance (R2 = 0.194 and 0.232). In SEM, green exercise was positively associated with self-efficacy (β = 0.351, p < 0.001) and showed significant direct associations with somatic focus (β = −0.251, p < 0.001) and activity avoidance (β = −0.315, p < 0.001). Self-efficacy was negatively associated with somatic focus (β = −0.308, p < 0.001) and activity avoidance (β = −0.299, p < 0.001). Bootstrap analyses supported partial indirect effects via self-efficacy for somatic focus (β = −0.108; 30.08% of total effect) and activity avoidance (β = −0.105; 25.00% of total effect).

Findings indicate that greater participation in green exercise is associated with lower kinesiophobia in adolescents, partly through higher self-efficacy. The pattern is consistent with a social-cognitive mechanism linking outdoor physical activity to fear-related responses to movement, while causal inferences require longitudinal or experimental research.

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