BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.11, No.2, 2022 1535 

 

 

 

 

Effects of Exercise Intervention on Child Mental 

Health 

By Yan, J., Qian, K. J., Tao, B. L., Zhang, W, J., Zhong, B. B., 

& Jiang, Y. Y. 
Correspondence to: Jun Yan, College of Physical Education, Yangzhou Univer-

sity, China. E-mail: yanjun@yzu.edu.cn 

UBLISHED in Sports and Science, this study conducted a 12-week ex-

periment on 169 primary school students, to examine the effects of exer-

cise intervention on child physical self-esteem (Physical self-esteem is an 

important part of overall self-esteem and the earliest developed component of 

self-consciousness, involving the individual’s views and evaluations on their 

own appearance, physique, physical ability, etc.), self-concept, and mental 

health, as well as the mediating role of physical self-esteem and self-concept 

in the influence of exercise intervention on child mental health. The findings 

of the study include: 

 According to data analysis, exercise intervention has a positive 

impact on child physical health, self-concept, and mental health. 

Child physical self-esteem and self-concept are significantly and 

positively correlated with child mental health, so is child self-

concept to child mental health. 

 As per mediating effect analysis, total effect of exercise interven-

tion on child mental health is 0.281; the path coefficients of exer-

cise intervention to physical self-esteem, physical self-esteem to 

mental health, exercise intervention to self-concept, self-concept 

to mental health, and physical self-esteem to self-concept is 0.149, 

0.394, 0.175, 0.517, and 0.280, respectively. All the path coeffi-

cients reach the significant level. 

 The specific components of mediating path are displayed as fol-

lows: (1) indirect path (exercise intervention → physical self-

esteem → mental health); (2) indirect path (exercise intervention 

→ self-concept → mental health); (3) indirect path (exercise in-

tervention →  physical self-esteem →  self-concept →  mental 

health). The effect sizes of the three paths are 0.059, 0.091, and 

0.021, accounting for 21%, 32.38%, and 7.47% of the total effect, 

respectively. The mediating effects of all three paths reach signif-

icant levels. 

P 

mailto:yanjun@yzu.edu.cn


 

Vol.11, No.2, 2022 1536 

The study drew the following conclusions: (1) Exercise intervention 

significantly promotes child physical self-esteem, self-concept, and mental 

health. It imposes a direct effect on child mental health; the longer children 

exercise, the better their mental health. (2) Exercise intervention affects chil-

dren’s mental health through the mediating role of physical self-esteem and 

self-concept; that is, the longer the children’s physical exercise, the higher 

the levels of their physical self-esteem and self-concept, which in turn, raise 

their mental health levels. 

 

Source: Sports & Science, 2022; 43(3):89-96.