Chinese university students’ perceptions of factors related to physical activity engagement: a fuzzy cognitive mapping study = Percepciones de los estudiantes universitarios chinos sobre los factores relacionados con la participación en la actividad física: un estudio de mapeo cognitivo difuso

Abstract

Student engagement in physical activities has been associated with personal, social, instructional, and environmental factors; however, these factors are often examined as isolated predictors rather than as an interconnected system. This study applied fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) to examine how university students perceived engagement-related factors and the directional relationships among them. A total of 437 second-year undergraduate students from a public university in Anhui Province, China, participated. Candidate factors were identified through a literature review and focus group interviews, organised according to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, and assessed through an FCM questionnaire. The aggregated Student FCM was analysed to identify the most strongly weighted perceived factors and their perceived interrelationships. Peer support and interaction, facilities, peer collaboration, body mass index, motivation, parental support, well-being, extracurricular physical activity, inclusive school policy, and coaching styles received the highest weights. The strongest perceived pathways were concentrated mainly within the microsystem, particularly those involving peers, family, coaching, and extracurricular participation. These findings represent students’ perceived relationships rather than empirically verified causal effects and demonstrate the value of FCM for revealing interconnected engagement structures that may be overlooked when factors are examined independently.