Peer support and facility access in sustained sport participation and mental health among undergraduates: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study

Sustained sport participation among undergraduates is a public-health priority because university life is a period in which independent health routines, social identities, academic pressure, and mental-health risks converge. In this study, sustained sport participation denotes the continuity and maintenance of sport involvement over time despite competing demands. Environmental sustainability is considered separately as a secondary campus-context theme rather than as part of the primary behavioral outcome.

This study examined Theory of Planned Behavior pathways and mental-health indirect associations with sustained sport participation and used qualitative evidence to explain how peer support and institutional facility access shaped the everyday enactment of sport intentions. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used at Hubei Polytechnic University, China. The quantitative phase comprised a cross-sectional survey of 386 undergraduates selected through stratified random sampling and analyzed using descriptive statistics, internal consistency testing, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and indirect-effect analysis.

The subsequent qualitative phase comprised 20 semi-structured interviews selected for maximum variation. Integration was achieved by connecting survey results to interview sampling and questions and by comparing quantitative findings with qualitative themes in a joint display to develop integrated interpretations. Attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms were positively associated with behavioral intention, and behavioral intention was positively associated with sustained sport participation.

Depression, anxiety, and stress showed statistically significant indirect associations between intention and participation. Peer support and facility access were not specified as latent predictors in the structural model; instead, their descriptive survey patterns and interview themes clarified the social and institutional conditions under which students described maintaining or interrupting participation. The findings support an interpretation of sustained sport participation as a behavior associated with cognitive, emotional, social, and institutional conditions.

Because the quantitative phase was cross-sectional, the structural and indirect pathways should not be interpreted as evidence of temporal or causal effects. Universities may nevertheless use the convergent quantitative and qualitative evidence to inform peer-supported, accessible, inclusive, and mental-health-sensitive sport opportunities. The authors thank the participating students and institutional staff who supported recruitment and data collection.

Research and Practice on the Reform of Calisthenics Course Teaching under the Background of Digitalization Era (2024482). Department of Physical Education, Hubei Polytechnic University, Huangshi, 435003, Hubei, China Public Basic Course Department, Wuhan Institute of Design and Sciences, Wuhan, 430205, Hubei, China Xingyun School, Wujin District, Changzhou, 213161, Jiangsu, China The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of Hubei Polytechnic University, and issued a letter (no. 2025/1387.23).