The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress and Academic Procrastination between Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese College Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Depressive symptoms, a prevalent mood illness, significantly harm college students’ physical and mental health. Individuals have experienced some degree of psychological harm as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking this into account, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between physical activity (PA) and depressive symptoms among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the mediating roles of perceived stress and academic procrastination. A total of 586 college students were subjected to the Physical Activity Scale (PARS-3), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (PASS), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Findings from this research demonstrated that there was a significant positive correlation between perceived stress, academic procrastination, and depressive symptoms, while PA was significantly negatively correlated with perceived stress, academic procrastination, and depressive symptoms. The results of the chain mediation analysis showed that PA had a significant direct effect on depressive symptoms. Perceived stress, academic procrastination, and perceived stress-academic procrastination had significant mediating and chain mediating effects on the relationship between PA and depressive symptoms. In conclusion, PA among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic affects their depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through the independent mediating effect of perceived stress and academic procrastination, as well as the chain mediating effect of perceived stress and academic procrastination.