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Objective: To investigate the effect of physical exercise on sleep quality and the mediating effect of smartphone use behavior in college students., Methods: A cross-sectional study design was adopted. An online survey of 5,075 college students was conducted using the Physical Activity Rating Scale-3, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale., Results: The sleep quality of college students was poor, and the proportion of college students with good sleep quality was 23.567%. A significant correlation existed between sleep quality and physical exercise (r = -0.159, P < 0.001) and mobile phone addiction (r = 0.355, P < 0.001). Physical exercise can predict sleep quality in college students (β = -0.011, P < 0.001). Smartphone use plays a part in mediating the process by which physical exercise affects sleep quality., Conclusion: Chinese college students have poor sleep quality. Physical exercise and smartphone use behavior are important factors affecting the sleep quality of college students. Physical exercise can directly predict the sleep quality of college students and can predict the sleep quality of college students through the mediating effect of smartphone use behavior., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Xu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Objective: We investigated the effects of COVID-19 fear on negative moods among college students, and assessed the efficacy of physical exercise behavior as a moderator variable., Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Students from three colleges and universities in Shangqiu City, Henan Province and Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province were enrolled in this study, which was performed during the COVID-19 pandemic using an online questionnaire. A total of 3,133 college students completed the questionnaire. Measurement tools included the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S), Depression-Anxiety-Stress Self-Rating Scale (DASS), and the Physical Activity Behavior Scale (PARS-3)., Results: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the rates of depression, anxiety, and stressful negative moods among college students were 35.5, 65.5, and 10.95%, respectively; there was a positive correlation between COVID-19 fear and negative moods among college students ( r = 0.479, p < 0.001), which was negatively correlated with physical exercise behavior ( r = -0.4, p < 0.001); the regulating effects of physical exercise behavior were significant (ΔR2 = 0.04, p < 0.001)., Conclusion: The rate of negative moods among college students is high, and the fear for COVID-19 is one of the key factors that lead to negative moods. Physical exercise can modulate the impact of COVID-19 fear among college students on negative moods. Studies should elucidate on mental health issues among different populations during the COVID-19 pandemic., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Han, Han, Tong, Wang, Ke, Meng, Guo, Cui, Zhang, Ye, Zhang, Li and Li.)

Objective: To explore the effect of problematic mobile phone use on college students' physical activity and their relationships., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 3980 college students from three universities in Jiangsu province by random cluster sampling. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short (IPAQ-SF) measured college students' physical activity. The Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale for College Students (MPATS) measured problematic mobile phone use tendencies. College students' physical activity was measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short (IPAQ-SF), and the Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale measured their mobile phone addiction tendency for College Students (MPATS)., Results: (1) The proportions of the low-, medium-, and high-intensity physical activity were 83.5%, 10.7%, and 5.8%, respectively, with gender differences; The score of problematic mobile phone use tendency was 38.725 ± 15.139. (2) There were significant differences in problematic mobile phone use tendency among college students with different physical activity intensity (F = 11.839, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.007). (3) The level of physical activity was significantly correlated with the tendency of problematic mobile phone use ( r = -0.173, p < 0.001). (4) Physical activity of college students could significantly predict the tendency of problematic mobile phone use (F (3,3605) = 11.296, p < 0.001)., Conclusions: The physical activity of college students was mainly moderate to low intensity, while the tendency of problematic mobile phone use was high. College students' physical activity level was one of the important constraints of problematic mobile phone use tendency.

Objective: Negative moods in college students have caused frequent extreme behaviors. This study analyzed the current status and correlation between physical activity and negative moods in college students., Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used in the present research. Data on college students' physical activity and negative moods were collected using the Sports Questionnaire Star software. The questionnaires were administered to college students in five colleges and universities in Henan and Jiangsu Provinces, China, and a total of 3711 correctly completed questionnaires were returned. Data on sociological and demographic information, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF), and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) were collected. The research was conducted in December 2021., Results: The low-intensity physical activity rate among college students was 55.56%, while depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms were detected in 35.14%, 65.29%, and 10.99%of the college students, respectively. Depression (K = 35.58, p < 0.001) and anxiety (K = 15.56, p < 0.001) rates were significantly different among the different physical activity intensity groups. The proportion of students who perform high-intensity physical activities was lower than those who perform low- and moderate-intensity physical activities., Conclusion: Low physical activity and high anxiety are evident among college students, and prolonged moderate-to-low-intensity physical activity (including static behavior) induces depression and anxiety. In the future, further studies can be conducted on improving the physical activity intensity of college students, improving the mental health monitoring and intervention systems of college students, and exploring the dose-effect relationship between physical activity and negative moods.

Background: In the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of college students' physical exercise, the detection rate of negative emotions, and their correlation should attract extensive attention. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the correlation between college students' physical exercise and negative emotions., Methods: Data were collected via a web-based cross-sectional survey. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 3118 college students from five universities in Shanghai in March 2022. In addition to sociodemographic information, measures included Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). The chi-squared test and logistic regression were used to analyze the differences and test the relative risk of negative emotions caused by different amounts of physical exercise., Results: Most students (66.1%) performed a small amount of physical exercise. Male students' physical-exercise level was higher than female students', and the detection rate of negative emotions was lower than that of female students. Moderate and low physical-exercise levels were associated with a higher risk of depression (beta of 0.289 and 0.345, respectively) and anxiety (beta of 0.301 and 0.418) symptoms than high physical-exercise level., Conclusions: The anxiety symptoms of college students were significant during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The physical-exercise behavior of college students was closely related to negative emotions, and the weakening of physical-exercise behavior was one of the factors that induced negative emotions in college students.

Background: Self-efficacy is an important component of the mental well-being of college students. This study aimed to evaluate the development and the correlation between physical fitness (PF), exercise behavior, and self-efficacy in college students. To examine whether PF in individual college students can predict self-efficacy, and whether exercise behavior mediates this relationship., Methods: This was an observational study of 1923 randomly selected college students (50.5% girl). Measures included the Physical Activity Rating Scale, the Self-Efficacy Scale, and PF testing., Results: Self-efficacy was weakly correlated to both PF ( r = 0.240) and exercise behavior ( r = 0.248). In regression analysis, PF explained 24.7% of the variance in self-efficacy, increasing to 29.4% when exercise behavior was considered. Therefore, the predictive effect of PF on self-efficacy is partially realized through healthy exercise behavior., Conclusion: Physical fitness can predict self-efficacy among college students, with exercise behavior being an important mediation of this relationship. Strategies to improve positive exercise behaviors and PF could improve students' self-efficacy and overall mental health., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Han, Li, Wang, Ke, Meng, Li, Cui and Tong.)