Family sports environment and emotional regulation in Chinese adolescents: the mediating roles of sports lifestyle and parent, child interaction

Against the backdrop of increasingly prominent mental health issues among adolescents, insufficient development of the family sports environment, a key external factor associated with emotional regulation, has emerged as a critical but often overlooked determinant of psychological stability and resilience among Chinese youth. In particular, the absence of an active sports lifestyle and structured parent, child interaction patterns may be associated with impaired emotional regulation processes, highlighting the need to examine the associational pathways.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the association between the family sports environment and emotional regulation abilities among Chinese adolescents and to explore the serial indirect associations of sports` lifestyle and parent, child relationship within a theoretically informed mediation model.MethodsA cluster sampling survey was conducted among 750 Chinese adolescents. Data were collected using the Family Sports Environment Scale, the Adolescent Emotional Regulation Scale, the Sports Lifestyle Scale, and the Parent, Child Relationship Scale. All variables were measured at a single time point using self-report questionnaires.Results(1) No statistically significant differences were observed across gender or age in family sports environment, emotional regulation, sports lifestyle, or parent, child relationship (p > 0.05); (2) The family sports environment was significantly and positively associated with emotional regulation (r = 0.698, p < 0.001). Regression analyses indicated that the total effect of family sports environment on emotional regulation was significant (unstandardized coefficient, B = 0.292; t = 26.811, p < 0.001). while the direct effect also remained significant (standardized coefficient,β = 0.207; t = 3.829, p < 0.001). In addition, the family sports environment was significantly associated with variations in sports lifestyle (B = 1.957, t = 37.969, p < 0.001) and parent, child relationship (B = 0.292, t = 8.445, p < 0.001). Sports lifestyle was significantly associated with variations in parent, child relationship (β = 0.226, t = 15.931, p < 0.001) and emotional regulation (β = 0.203, t = 8.400, p < 0.001). Moreover, the parent, child relationship was significantly associated with variations in emotional regulation (β = 0.524, t = 9.175, p < 0.001); (3) Sports lifestyle and parent, child relationship both demonstrated significant mediating associations in the relationship between family sports environment and adolescent emotional regulation, consistent with a serial mediation model of associations.ConclusionThe family sports environment was significantly associated with healthier sports lifestyles among Chinese adolescents and more positive parent, child relationships, and was also indirectly associated with emotional regulation abilities through the sequential mediating effects of these two factors. Sports lifestyles and parent, child relationships function as key intermediary pathways linking the family sports environment to adolescents’ emotional regulation, thereby providing a theoretically informed explanation of the observed associative pathways. From a practical perspective, these findings suggest that optimizing the family sports environment, encouraging parent, child engagement in physical activities, and fostering regular physical activity habits among adolescents may be supportive contextual factors for improving emotional regulation and supporting mental health development. Such strategies may also provide valuable implications for family-based sports guidance and adolescent mental health support practices. However, this study is subject to limitations related to sample representativeness and cross-sectional research design. Future research is encouraged to employ longitudinal designs and incorporate more comprehensive family-context variables to further examine and validate these associations.