How soccer team students shape adolescent athlete engagement: evidence from an actor-partner interdependence model

Physical inactivity among adolescents has become a global public health concern. Insufficient engagement in sports potentially affects physical and mental health. Athlete engagement, reflecting persistent positive emotional experiences in physical activity, is a key factor in promoting adolescent development. This study investigates how adolescent athlete participation influences athlete engagement within and across different student groups.

A total of 4,140 students from 167 soccer-featured schools in China are recruited, comprising 2,070 soccer team students and 2,070 non-soccer team students. Participants complete the Athlete Participation Scale (APS) and the Athlete Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ). Data are analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) with latent variables to examine actor and partner effects.

Soccer team students exhibit a significant actor effect on their own engagement (β = 0.824, p < 0.001). However, they do not have a significant partner effect (β = -0.005, p > 0.05). In contrast, non-soccer team students exhibit a statistically significant actor effect. However, the effect size is small (β = 0.045, p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the partner effect is significant (β = 0.518, p < 0.001). The partner effect is stronger than the actor effect. The dyadic pattern analysis classifies the pattern for soccer team students as an actor-only pattern and the pattern for non-soccer team students as a mixed actor-partner pattern.

Athlete participation influences adolescent athlete engagement differently across student groups. Soccer team students' athlete engagement is mainly driven by their own athlete participation. For non-soccer team students, their own athlete participation has only a limited effect on their athlete engagement. Non-soccer team students are more strongly influenced by the role-modeling of soccer team students. These findings highlight the value of strengthening campus soccer teams to mobilize non-soccer team students' sustained engagement in physical activity.