The Role of Self-Esteem and Depression in the Relationship Between Physical Activity and Academic Procrastination Among Chinese Undergraduate Students: A Serial Mediation Model.

Purpose: Physical activity has been found to be negatively correlated with academic procrastination. However, the potential mediating variables in this relationship are not well understood. This study aimed to explore the mediating effects of self-esteem and depression in the relationship between physical activity and academic procrastination among Chinese undergraduate students.

Patients and methods: A total of 1233 Chinese undergraduate students participated in the study. The unidimensionality of the self-esteem, depression, and academic procrastination was examined using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Serial mediation analysis was conducted using SPSS 25.0 macro-PROCESS 3.3 to examine whether self-esteem and depression jointly mediated the relationship between physical activity and academic procrastination.

Results: Self-esteem, depression, and academic procrastination displayed a good-fit to the one-factor model. The results indicated that physical activity indirectly impact academic procrastination through three pathways: (1) self-esteem (β=-0.011, Boots 95% CI [-0.021, -0.001]), which accounted for of 12.09% of the total effect, (2) depression (β=-0.022, Boots 95% CI [-0.036, -0.009]), which accounted for 24.18% of the total effect, and (3) self-esteem and depression (β=-0.006, Boots 95% CI [-0.011, -0.002]), which accounted for 6.59% of the total effect. The total mediating effect was 42.86%.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that self-esteem and depression playing a mediating role in the relationship between physical activity and academic procrastination, respectively. Moreover, self-esteem and depression co-mediate this relationship through a serial pathway.