The Relationship Between Physical Exercise and College Students' Interpersonal Trust: The Serial Mediating Effect of Social Support and Psychological Resilience

Objective The present study sought to examine the relationship between physical exercise and interpersonal trust among a sample of college students, as well as the mediating roles of social support and psychological resilience in this relationship. Methods A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among 526 college students from several universities in Liaoning Province, China, of whom 504 valid questionnaires were retained for final analysis after data screening. The data were collected using the following instruments: the Physical Activity Rating Scale, the Interpersonal Trust Scale, the Perceived Social Support Scale, and the Psychological Resilience Scale. Statistical analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among variables and to test the proposed mediation model. Results The results demonstrated that: Results: (1) Physical exercise is positively correlated with college students’ interpersonal trust, and its direct predictive effect on interpersonal trust is weak but robust; (2) Physical exercise can positively predict social support and psychological resilience; (3) Social support can positively predict psychological resilience and college students’ interpersonal trust, and psychological resilience can also positively predict college students’ interpersonal trust; (4) Social support and psychological resilience play important mediating roles between physical exercise and college students’ interpersonal trust, with three mediating effect paths: physical exercise → social support → interpersonal trust; physical exercise → psychological resilience → interpersonal trust; physical exercise → social support → psychological resilience → interpersonal trust. Conclusions This study examined whether physical exercise was associated with interpersonal trust among college students. The results of the study support this hypothesis, with physical exercise demonstrating a weak but robust positive correlation with interpersonal trust among the sample of college students. The findings suggest that social support and psychological resilience independently mediate the relationship between physical exercise and interpersonal trust and also operate as a serial mediation pathway between the two.