Abstract
Objective: This study aims to investigate whether physical activity can promote students’ prosocial behavior by analyzing the relationship between sports participation and the prosocial behavior of junior high school students. Methods: Based on the 2014–2015 China education panel survey (CEPS), the relationship between regular athletic sports and prosocial behavior was evaluated among eighth-grade students by ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation and propensity score matching (PSM) and the relationship between OLS and PSM was evaluated by Rosenbaum’s bounds test for a robustness test; the observations were analyzed for heterogeneity to identify those who benefit more from sports. Results: The OLS results showed that sporting behavior increased prosocial behavior scores by 4%, and the PSM results showed that regular physical exercise increased students’ prosocial behavior tendencies by over 0.2 standard deviations from the mean prosocial behavior score (standardized). According to the Rosenbaum’s bounds test, the estimates were robust and reliable, and the results of the heterogeneity analysis showed that with males and students whose fathers had more than 9 years of education, the students showed more significant improvements in prosocial behavior. Conclusion: Physical activity has a significant positive effect on students’ prosocial behavior, and gender and the father’s education are significantly related to prosocial behavior.
Highlights
There is currently a movement in China that aims to strengthen physical exercise programs for primary and secondary school students and to enhance their physical fitness
We first used ordinary least squares (OLS) to estimate the relationship between regular participation in physical exercise and the prosocial behavior of students
Because we used standardized scores as dependent variables in the estimation, the results indicated that, on average, regular participation in physical exercise improved students’ prosocial behavior by 0.2 standard deviations
Summary
There is currently a movement in China that aims to strengthen physical exercise programs for primary and secondary school students and to enhance their physical fitness. In 2020, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced Opinions on deepening the integration of sports and education to promote the healthy development of youth [1]. In the Opinions, the CPC further emphasized the need to strengthen school sports and to assist students in enjoying physical exercise, improving their physique, developing their personality, and exercising their will. The significant contribution of physical exercise to the physical fitness and mental health of students has been well-documented. It is urgent to improve the prosocial behaviors of Chinese citizens. It is of great significance to explore the effects of physical exercise on the prosocial behavioral tendencies of students
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