The relationship between exercise commitment and psychological detachment from academic activities among Chinese college students: the chain mediating roles of self-identity and sense of belonging.

BACKGROUND: Mental health concerns among college students have received increasing attention in recent years. Psychological detachment-defined as mentally disengaging from academic-related thoughts during non-study time-is typically conceptualized as a recovery-related experience; however, its role in academic contexts may be context-dependent. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the association between exercise commitment and psychological detachment and explores the roles of self-identity and sense of belonging within a multi-level framework. METHODS: A stratified multi-site sampling strategy combined with classroom-based recruitment was used to survey 850 Chinese college students (aged 17-25 years; 48.82% male). Measures included the Exercise Commitment Scale, the psychological detachment subscale of the Recovery Experience Questionnaire (REQ), the Self-Identity Scale, and the Sense of Belonging Inventory. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlations and Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 6) with bias-corrected bootstrap resampling (5,000 samples). RESULTS: Exercise commitment was negatively associated with psychological detachment (r = -0.501, p < 0.001). Indirect associations via self-identity (37.02%), sense of belonging (14.19%), and their sequential association (13.84%) were statistically significant. Alternative model specifications produced comparable results, suggesting that the proposed mediation structure is not uniquely supported. CONCLUSION: Higher exercise commitment was associated with lower psychological detachment in academic contexts. The functional meaning of this association remains context-dependent. These findings should be interpreted as theoretically informative rather than conclusive, given the cross-sectional, self-report design. No causal inferences can be drawn.