Physical Activity, Social Support, and Psychological Well-Being in University Students: Implications for Health Promotion and Preventive Rehabilitation
Physical activity and social support are theoretically recognized as protective factors against psychological disorders and are central components of health promotion and pre-ventive rehabilitation frameworks. However, in students who are actively engaged in sports-based Student Activity Units (UKM), their direct relationship with psychological well-being has not been consistently reported. This study aims to analyze the effect of physical activity and social support on quality of life (QoL) and anxiety in student mem-bers of UKM sports, with implications for lifestyle medicine and functional health promo-tion. This study used a quantitative design with a cross-sectional approach. The sample consisted of 65 active student members of UKM sports at Universitas Pendidikan Indone-sia, selected through proportionate stratified random sampling. Physical activity was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire–Short Form (IPAQ-SF), social support using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), quality of life using the WHOQOL-BREF, and anxiety using the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Hypothesis testing was performed using bootstrap regression analysis (1,000 resamplings; 95% BCa confidence intervals). The results showed that physical activity and social support did not have a statistically significant direct effect on QoL or anxiety (p > 0.05). Despite the positive directional trend between physical activity and QoL and a nega-tive trend toward anxiety, confidence intervals uniformly encompassed zero. These find-ings suggest that in a physically active student population, other factors including aca-demic stress, performance demands, burnout, coping strategies, and emotional regulation may mediate or moderate psychological well-being outcomes. From a preventive rehabili-tation and health promotion perspective, these results underscore the importance of com-prehensive, multidimensional interventions beyond exercise prescription alone, integrat-ing psychosocial support, stress management, and lifestyle medicine approaches to opti-mize functional health among university students