An important step to enhance the academic efficiency of students is increasing their physical activity. For this reason, it is necessary to see to what extent physical activity is related to the academic performance of the students and what might mediate this. A major objective of the study is to explore self-esteem and depression as mediators between physical activity and academic performance. On the basis of informed consent to participate in the study, 358 participants have been selected from Universities in Pakistan, and they were asked about their physical activity, depression during their study and self-esteem through self-report. Participants self-reported their self-esteem, level of depression and their physical activity through standardized measures; the Rosenberg Self-esteem scale (1965), the University stress scale (2016), and the short form of the International Physical Activity questionnaire (2003), respectively. Academic performance had been measured as the cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of the last two consecutive semesters. Self-esteem and depression were found to be significant mediators between physical activity and academic performance. The total effect of physical activity on academic performance was significant but smaller than the total indirect effect through mediators. Though total indirect effect is the combination of the effect of self-esteem and depression, but the larger contribution is of self-esteem which has been found to be the strongest mediator between physical activity and academic performance. The study has implications for future research, both in terms of testing the model and testing psychological constructs. Also, the study emphasizes that the importance of physical activity has to be kept in mind while designing a curriculum of an educational institution in order to foster sustainable development.

The present study examined the role of self-enhancement and self-criticism in the relationship between physical activity and anxiety. A total of 305 students from Chinese universities, ranging in age from 18 to 36, completed a questionnaire package comprising a physical activity questionnaire, a self-enhancement strategies scale, a level of self-criticism scale, and a short form of state and trait anxiety scale. Findings highlighted that physical activity had a significant negative correlation with anxiety (r = −0.31, p < 0.01), a significant positive association with self-enhancement (r = 0.43, p < 0.01), and a significant negative relationship with self-criticism (r = −0.14, p < 0.05). It was also found that anxiety was significantly predicted by self-enhancement (−0.21, p < 0.01) and self-criticism (0.44, p < 0.01). Moreover, the mediation model supports the mediation of self-enhancement and self-criticism between physical activity and anxiety in university students. The findings suggest that interventions aimed at promoting physical activity and enhancing the self-system should be worthy strategies for reducing students’ anxiety.

The purpose of this study was to explore individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors that may influence the physical activity of adolescents (ages 10–14) in Pakistani schools. A set of questionnaires that included individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors and PA behavior was completed by the 618 students selected from Pakistani schools. Stepwise forward regression model was applied to check the possible effects of multilevel variables on physical activity and to extract the stronger predictors. The results showed that physical activity was significantly predicted by individual level factors such as self-efficacy, motivation, and attitude. Among the demographic correlates, gender, age, and BMI did not affect physical activity, while socioeconomic status and geographic characteristics had a meaningful association with PA. At the interpersonal level, adolescents’ perception of family support had a potential influence on physical activity, while there was no impact of friends/peers and teachers support on adolescents’ PA. A school environmental characteristic, such as PA facility, was positively related to PA; however, the impact of PA equipment, safety, and policy and PA culture were statistically non-significant. The findings suggest that public health intervention strategies aimed at promoting PA in adolescents should recognize multiple levels of influences that may either enhance or impede the likelihood of PA among adolescents.

A plethora of research has explored the benefits of physical activities on several variables such as academic performances, quality of life, fitness, levels of stress, and depression. However, less research considered the impact of physical activity on academic anxiety, self-enhancement, and self-criticism. This study examines the influence of physical activity on academic anxiety with self-enhancement and self-criticism playing a mediating role. Data for this model has been collected by using structured questionnaires administered to 418 Pakistani university students (undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate) aged between 18 and 36 years old. Structural equation modeling through analysis of moment structures (AMOS) was applied to find that physical activity significantly reduces academic anxiety and self-criticism, and it develops self-enhancement. Further, self-enhancement was negatively associated with academic anxiety while self-criticism is directly related to academic anxiety. More importantly, self-enhancement and self-criticism partially mediated between physical activity and academic anxiety of university students in Pakistan. This research recommends governments to support physical activity programs for university students.

This study aimed to develop an intervention strategy based on the social-ecological model’s individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels for increasing adolescents’ physical activity in Pakistan. Based on the social-ecological model, an 8-week intervention was conducted for 618 school students in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A quantitative method with a quasi-experimental design was adopted, administering self-report measures before and after the intervention. Intervention materials were delivered by leaflet once a week to the intervention group. Repeated measure analysis of variance was applied to verify the intervention effects at pre- and post-test conditions. The results show that a significant intervention effect was identified from the repeated measure analysis of variance for the intervention group’s physical activity participation compared to the control group from baseline (M = 12.01, SD = 0.136) to the 8-week post-test (M = 16.30, SD = 0.125). The intervention based on the social-ecological model has sufficiently and effectively improved physical activity among school adolescents in Pakistan.