Structural Relationships among Self-Management, Self-Resilience, and Adaptability to Chinese and Korean College Life in Physical Education Majors

BACKGROUND: We aimed to investigate the relationships among self-management, self-resilience, and adaptability to college life in Chinese and Korean students majoring in physical education. In addition, we explored the mediating role of self-resilience in the relationship between self-management and adaptability to college life. METHODS: Random sampling was used to identify participants majoring in physical education at five colleges and universities in Shaanxi (China) and four universities in Kyonggi-do Province (Republic of Korea) in June 2020. We analyzed data for 700 students via exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, structural equation model analysis, and path analysis. RESULTS: Self-management had a significant impact on self-resilience (P<0.001), while self-resilience had a significant impact on adaptability to college life (P<0.001). Among self-management variables, body management had a significant negative impact on adaptability to college life (P<0.001). Self-resilience had a mediating effect on the relationship between self-management and adaptability to college life (P=0.024). CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the need to develop systems that cultivate students’ abilities to integrate into university life, including their abilities to face unsatisfactory studies, manage spare time, make physical adjustments, adapt to new living environments, and maintain interpersonal relationships. Strengthening self-management abilities will lead to improvements in self-resilience, adaptability, and satisfaction with university life among physical education majors.