The relationship between quality of sports friendships and mental health in Chinese junior high school students: the bidirectional chain mediating effects of sport motivation and exercise adherence

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of quality of sport friendships on mental health and the mediating role of sport motivation and exercise adherence in middle school students. A total of 1,083 middle school students were selected using a combination of cluster sampling and stratified sampling methods. The participants were assessed using the Sport Friendship Quality Scale, Mental Health Scale, Exercise Motivation Scale, and Physical Exercise Adherence Scale. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine the relationships among the four variables. (1) The quality of sport friendships positively predicted mental health (β = 0.192, p