Physical activity alleviates mental health problems related to bullying through moderating rumination

Physical activity and experiencing bullying is a protective and risk factor for mental health, respectively. Adolescents who suffer from bullying tend to be trapped in rumination, leading to mental health problem. However, the interaction among them from the perspective of increasing protective factors and reducing risk factors is unclear. This study explored whether rumination mediated the association between experiencing bullying and mental health problems and the moderating role of physical activity.

This study investigated 13,983 students from high school in Jiangxi Province, China, and assessed for experiencing bullying, rumination, mental health problems (depressive, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms), and physical activity. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted using R software (version 4.1.1).

Significant differences were observed in rumination, physical activity and mental health problems between adolescents who have experienced bullying and those who have not (p < 0.001). Rumination mediated the relationship between experiencing bullying and depressive symptoms (β= 0.45, 95 % CI [0.42, 0.48]), anxiety symptoms (β= 0.37, 95 % CI [0.35, 0.39]), and insomnia symptoms (β= 0.36, 95 % CI [0.33, 0.38]). Moreover, physical activity moderated the relationship between rumination and depressive symptoms (coeff = -0.03, p < 0.001), anxiety symptoms (coeff = -0.02, p < 0.001), and insomnia symptoms (coeff = -0.01, p < 0.001).

Rumination and physical activity mediated and moderated, respectively, the relationship between experiencing bullying and adolescents' mental health problems. These findings indicate that schools and society should establish a campus bullying early warning system, pay attention to bullying incidents and promote physical activity.