Physical literacy and mental well-being in adults: a cross-sectional examination of their association and links with physical activity engagement.

BACKGROUND

Physical literacy, the integrated motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding that underpins lifelong physical activity, has been advanced as a holistic determinant of health. Yet, evidence linking it to positively framed mental well-being in adults remains scarce and is dominated by samples of children and adolescents.

AIM: This study examined the association between physical literacy and mental well-being in Turkish adults and tested whether both constructs differed by sex, educational attainment, athletic background, regular exercise participation, and habitual physical activity level.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional design, 375 adults (64.5% male; mean age = 32.23 years, SD = 11.03, range 18-71), a convenience sample skewed toward physically active and tertiary-educated men, completed validated Turkish measures of physical literacy and mental well-being. Active-living exposures were assessed using a single self-report item. Internal consistency was high (physical literacy α = 0.89, ω = 0.90; mental well-being α = 0.92, ω = 0.92). Pearson correlations, t-tests, one-way ANOVAs, and hierarchical regression were computed with effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals; discriminant validity was tested directly, and an exploratory mediation was examined.

RESULTS

Physical literacy was moderately and positively associated with mental well-being (r = 0.45, p < 0.001), and the two constructs showed evidence of empirical distinctness (HTMT = 0.52, 95% CI [0.42, 0.63]). Adults with an athletic background and regular exercisers reported higher physical literacy (d = 0.83 and 1.09) and mental well-being (d = 0.36 and 0.63), and both outcomes increased in an ordered gradient across habitual activity-frequency categories (physical literacy η2 = 0.21; mental well-being η2 = 0.07). Physical literacy explained 11% of incremental variance in well-being beyond demographic and behavioral covariates (β = 0.41). Men scored marginally higher than women on both measures, educational attainment was weakly related to mental well-being but not physical literacy, and physical literacy declined modestly with age (r = -0.18).

CONCLUSION

Higher physical literacy co-occurs with better mental well-being in adults and remains associated with mental well-being after adjustment for covariates, positioning it as a candidate target for adult mental health promotion. The cross-sectional design and active, educated convenience sample preclude causal and population-level inference, and independent confirmatory validation of the adapted instrument is needed before these findings are treated as more than provisional.