Athlete burnout represents a critical concern in sports psychology, significantly affecting athletes’ well-being and performance. This study examined the relationships among psychological capital, coping strategies, perceived stress, and athlete burnout. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 344 athletes, and data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 25.0 and PROCESS Macro v4.1 for hierarchical stepwise regression and moderated mediation analysis. Control variables included age, gender, sport type, and competitive experience. The results revealed that psychological capital negatively associated with burnout both directly ( $$\beta$$ = -0.539, p < 0.01) and indirectly (a*b = -0.803, p < 0.01) through coping strategies. Furthermore, perceived stress influenced both the relationship between psychological capital and coping strategies and the indirect effect of psychological capital on burnout via coping strategies. Notably, under high-stress conditions, the negative association of psychological capital was more pronounced, with a more substantial indirect effect compared to low-stress conditions ( $$\beta$$ = -1.020, p < .01 vs. $$\beta$$ = -0.299, p < .01). These findings underscore the importance of cultivating psychological resources and adaptive coping mechanisms to mitigate burnout, offering valuable insights for targeted interventions aimed at enhancing the well-being of athletes, particularly those experiencing elevated stress levels.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the dynamic relationships between physical exercise (PE), body image (BI), and social anxiety (SA) among Chinese junior high school students, as well as to analyze the mechanism through which PE may alleviate SA by improving BI. Methods: A total of 851 students (652 males, 391 females) from grades 7 and 8 across five secondary schools in Sichuan, Jiangsu, and Guangdong provinces were selected for this 12-month longitudinal study. Four waves of data were collected using validated questionnaires measuring PE, BI, and SA. The data were analyzed using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM). Results: The study revealed the following findings: (1) PE showed significant positive correlations with BI at all four time points ( r = 0.308 to 0.463, p < 0.001) and significant negative correlations with SA ( r = −0.142 to −0.301, p < 0.001); (2) BI was also significantly negatively correlated with SA ( r = −0.138 to −0.313, p < 0.001); (3) PE significantly reduced subsequent SA levels by improving BI. The total effect of the pathway PE(T1) → BI(T2) → SA(T3) was −0.301, with a mediation effect of −0.125 (accounting for 41.53% of the total effect). Conclusion: This study elucidates the mediating mechanism through which PE alleviates SA by enhancing BI, providing scientific evidence for adolescent mental health interventions. Schools are advised to incorporate strategies in physical education curricula and activities that foster positive BI and social adaptation skills to promote psychological well-being.

Objective: From the perspective of latent profile analysis (LPA), this study explored the relationships among emotional processing types, physical exercise, and aggressive behavior of middle school students, and clarified the mechanism of physical exercise in the association between emotional processing types and aggressive behavior. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in multiple regions of six provinces and municipalities in China from October to December 2025. By adopting the method of random cluster sampling, a total of 7,276 middle school students were recruited as research subjects. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Physical Exercise Rating Scale, Anger Rumination Scale and Aggressive Behavior Scale were used for measurement, and SPSS 31.0 and Mplus 8.3 software packages were applied for data analysis. Results: (1) There were four distinct latent types of emotional processing among middle school students, namely adaptive emotional processing type, high rumination-inhibition emotional processing type, mixed emotional processing type, and reflection-dominated emotional processing type. (2) There were significant differences in aggression and physical exercise levels across different types of emotion processing. The adaptive emotion processing type exhibited the lowest aggression and the highest physical exercise level, while the reflection-dominant type showed the highest aggression and the lowest physical exercise level, indicating a trend of lower aggression levels being associated with higher physical exercise participation. (3) After controlling for demographic variables, physical exercise and emotional processing types could significantly predict aggressive behavior; anger rumination and expressive suppression were identified as risk factors for increased aggressive behavior, while cognitive reappraisal and physical exercise served as protective factors that curbed aggressive behavior. Conclusion: Physical exercise is significantly negatively correlated with adolescent aggressive behavior, and different types of emotional processing show differences in aggression risk and physical exercise levels. The results provide empirical evidence for stratified interventions based on emotional processing types, while causal relationships require further longitudinal tracking and experimental verification.