Determinants of psychosocial wellbeing within a year-long youth cycling program

School-based cycling programs are increasingly being implemented as accessible means to promote overall wellbeing in youth through structured physical activity. As these programs continue to develop, more rigorous research approaches can be used to better understand how these programs impact participant wellbeing outcomes. Here, we sought to examine within-subject trends and identify multivariate predictors of psychosocial wellbeing among youth participating in "Bike Club", a year-long after-school cycling program.

We studied 329 fourth- through eighth-grade students enrolled in Bike Club across 37 schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We assessed pre- and post-program psychosocial wellbeing using survey-based scales, and used mixed-effects stepwise linear regression to explore the relationship of individual changes in wellbeing with self-reported physical activity, outdoor time, perceived help with emotions, connection with nature, and bike self-efficacy, along with demographic variables.

Initial paired analysis indicated no significant group-level change in wellbeing between pre- and post-program, despite substantial individual variability (56% of participants reported meaningful changes). Perceived help with emotions and physical activity were most closely associated with wellbeing, followed by modifiable variables like outdoor time and bike self-efficacy and demographic variables like gender, race and ethnicity, and English language learning status. Although the program significantly increased bike self-efficacy and daily outdoor time, it did not appear to significantly relate to the frequency of physical activity or perceived emotional support.

While school-based cycling programs may support positive youth development with the potential to influence multiple correlates of wellbeing, our findings suggest they may not independently produce consistent mental health improvements when relying on incidental activity exposure alone. Perhaps intentional integration of psychosocial or therapeutic components is needed for cycling programs to support improvement in wellbeing, with longitudinal study designs across multiple timepoints and comparison groups to better isolate program effects while integrating more targeted intervention strategies.