Social anxiety among junior high school students appears to be associated with multiple behavioral and psychological domains rather than a single factor, encompassing physical exercise, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, and social avoidance.
Social anxiety was negatively correlated with physical exercise and regulatory emotional self-efficacy, and positively correlated with social avoidance.
After adjustment for sex, grade, and household registration, physical exercise remained independently and negatively associated with social anxiety.
Regulatory emotional self-efficacy was independently and negatively associated with social anxiety after covariate adjustment.
Social avoidance was independently and positively associated with social anxiety after covariate adjustment.
The final hierarchical regression model explained 26.6% of the variance in social anxiety.
The specific RESE subdimension of managing despondency or distress and managing anger or irritation were negatively associated with social anxiety, but efficacy in expressing positive affect was not independently significant.
This research suggests that social anxiety in middle school students is linked to several factors simultaneously: how much physical exercise they do, how confident they feel managing difficult emotions, and how much they avoid social situations. The study surveyed 817 students in China and found that students who exercised more, felt more capable of handling negative emotions like sadness or anger, and avoided social situations less tended to report lower levels of social anxiety. Together, these three factors explained about one-quarter of the differences in social anxiety levels among students. The study also found that not all aspects of emotional self-confidence were equally important. Students' confidence in managing negative feelings — like sadness, distress, and anger — was linked to lower social anxiety, but confidence in expressing positive emotions did not show a significant independent relationship with social anxiety. Social avoidance had the strongest association with social anxiety of the three main factors studied. This research suggests that addressing social anxiety in adolescents may benefit from looking at multiple areas of students' lives rather than focusing on anxiety symptoms alone. Encouraging physical activity participation, helping students build skills to cope with difficult emotions, and addressing tendencies to avoid social situations could all be relevant considerations when supporting students who struggle with social anxiety. Because this was a cross-sectional study — meaning it captured a single snapshot in time — it cannot establish whether these factors cause social anxiety or are simply associated with it.
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Upload Your LabsDu Y, Zhang K, Wu W, Liu M. (2026). Social anxiety, physical exercise, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, and social avoidance among junior high school students: a cross-sectional study.. BMC psychology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05742-5