Objective: Childhood emotional abuse is a significant yet often overlooked predictor of suicidal ideation among young adults. This longitudinal study examined how alexithymia mediates the relationship between Childhood emotional abuse and suicidal ideation among college students, and whether physical exercise moderates both the direct and indirect paths within this association. Method: We conducted a two-wave longitudinal study (12-month interval) using convenience sampling of Chinese college students from multiple universities in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. At T1 (April–June 2024), 1,006 valid online self-reports were collected; at T2 (April–June 2025), 926 participants were successfully matched (Mage = 20.78, SD = 2.58). Measures included childhood emotional abuse (CTQ–Emotional Abuse), alexithymia (TAS-20), suicidal ideation (PANSI), and weekly physical exercise frequency (single-item). Analyses used SPSS PROCESS (Model 4 and 15) with 5,000 bootstrap resamples, controlling for gender and birthplace. Results: The results showed that T2 alexithymia mediated the relationship between T1 childhood emotional abuse and T2 suicidal ideation. Additionally, T2 physical exercise significantly moderated the direct relationship between T1 childhood emotional abuse and T2 suicidal ideation. However, the moderating effect of physical exercise on the indirect pathway via T2 alexithymia was not significant. Conclusions: The findings highlight alexithymia as a key psychological mechanism linking emotional abuse in Childhood to suicidal ideation during emerging adulthood, while physical exercise serves as a protective factor at the direct level. Targeted interventions that enhance emotional awareness and promote regular physical activity may help mitigate suicide risk among college students with emotional abuse histories.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents is an important public health concern. This study examined the associations among physical activity (PA), psychological resilience (PR), and NSSI among 2257 junior high school students aged 12–17 years in central China. Using both variable-centered and person-centered approaches, the study found that higher PA and higher PR were related to lower NSSI. PR also partly accounted for the association between PA and NSSI, suggesting that resilience may be one pathway linking physical activity to reduced self-injury risk. Latent profile analysis identified three PA–PR profiles: low, moderate, and high. Adolescents in the low PA–PR profile reported the highest NSSI risk, whereas those in the high PA–PR profile reported the lowest risk. These findings suggest that interventions promoting PA and resilience may help reduce adolescent NSSI risk.

Life satisfaction (LS) is an important indicator of subjective well-being among college students. However, relatively few studies have integrated variable-centered and person-centered approaches to examine the associations among physical activity (PA), social support (SS), and LS in female college students. This cross-sectional study surveyed 2097 female college students from 11 universities in Jiangxi Province, China. PA, SS, and LS were assessed using self-report questionnaires. A mediation model was used to examine whether SS statistically mediated the association between PA and LS after controlling for education level and place of origin. Latent profile analysis was then conducted using six LS items, and the BCH method was used to compare PA and SS across profiles. The results showed that PA was positively associated with SS and LS, and SS was positively associated with LS. The indirect association between PA and LS through SS was statistically significant, suggesting a partial statistical mediation pattern. Latent profile analysis identified three level-based LS profiles: low-, medium-, and high-LS profiles. PA and SS increased progressively across these profiles, with the highest levels in the high-LS profile and the lowest levels in the low-LS profile. These findings suggest that PA, SS, and LS are closely interrelated and that meaningful quantitative heterogeneity exists in LS among female college students. Given the cross-sectional design and convenience sampling, the findings should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than causal effects.

Drawing on embodied emotion theory, this study investigated the longitudinal interplay between physical activity and negative emotional states among female college students across three waves of assessment. Female college students from five universities in Jiangxi Province, China, were assessed at three-month intervals over six months, with 1321 participants completing all three measurement waves. Physical activity was measured using the Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 (PARS-3), whereas negative emotional states were assessed using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and common method bias testing were performed using SPSS 26.0, while observed-variable and latent-variable cross-lagged panel models, together with multi-group analyses, were conducted using Mplus 8.3. Physical activity was significantly and negatively correlated with negative emotional states across all three measurement occasions (r = −0.363 to −0.249, all p < 0.01). After accounting for autoregressive effects and within-wave correlations, higher physical activity at T1 was associated with lower negative emotional states at T2 (β = −0.102, p < 0.001), and higher physical activity at T2 was associated with lower negative emotional states at T3 (β = −0.185, p < 0.001). Conversely, higher negative emotional states at T1 were associated with lower physical activity at T2 (β = −0.131, p < 0.001), and higher negative emotional states at T2 were associated with lower physical activity at T3 (β = −0.153, p < 0.001). An additional latent-variable cross-lagged panel model, in which negative emotional states were represented as a latent construct indicated by depression, anxiety, and stress, yielded the same direction and statistical significance for all four cross-lagged associations, although the standardized coefficients differed modestly in magnitude. Multi-group analyses indicated that these cross-lagged associations did not differ significantly across family residence or academic year groups. Overall, the findings point to a bidirectional pattern of longitudinal associations between physical activity and negative emotional states among female college students, in line with the embodied emotion perspective that bodily activity and emotional experiences may be interconnected over time. University mental health initiatives may therefore consider addressing both physical activity and negative emotional states, while recognizing that their longitudinal association appears to be bidirectional.

Background/Objectives: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is an important mental health concern among college students, yet evidence regarding behavioral and psychological correlates of NSSI among male students remains limited. This study examined the cross-sectional associations among physical activity (PA), psychological resilience (PR), and NSSI in male college students and explored heterogeneity in joint PA–PR patterns. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2567 male college students from one university in Jiangxi Province, China. PA, PR, and NSSI were assessed using the Physical Activity Rating Scale-3, the 10-item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, and 10 behavioral-frequency items from the Ottawa Self-Injury Inventory, respectively. Pearson correlations, covariate-adjusted regression analyses, bootstrap analysis of the statistical indirect association, sensitivity analyses, and latent profile analysis (LPA) were performed. Results: PA was positively associated with PR (r = 0.627, p < 0.001), whereas PA and PR were negatively associated with NSSI (r = −0.259 and −0.292, respectively; both p < 0.001). After adjustment for all measured demographic characteristics, PR statistically accounted for part of the negative association between PA and NSSI (indirect effect = −0.133, 95% bootstrap CI [−0.164, −0.102]). The NSSI model explained 9.8% of the variance. Past-year NSSI was reported by 35.41% of participants. LPA identified two predominantly level-based profiles: Low PA–Low PR and High PA–High PR. Participants in the Low PA–Low PR profile reported significantly higher NSSI scores than those in the High PA–High PR profile. Conclusions: Higher PA and PR were associated with lower NSSI among male college students, and PR statistically accounted for part of the cross-sectional PA–NSSI association. The two PA–PR profiles also differed in NSSI levels. These findings indicate that PA and PR are relevant correlates of NSSI, although their temporal and causal relationships require further investigation.