Perceived academic demands and psychological distress among Chinese university students: structural associations involving chronic time pressure and leisure-time physical activity.

OBJECTIVES

This study examined the direct and specific indirect associations among perceived academic demands, chronic time pressure, leisure-time physical activity, and psychological distress in Chinese university students.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online survey included 1,390 undergraduates from 10 higher-education institutions in Jiangsu Province, China. Perceived academic demands, chronic time pressure, and psychological distress were modeled as latent variables, whereas log-transformed leisure-time physical activity was modeled as an observed variable. Confirmatory factor analysis and covariate-adjusted structural equation modeling were conducted. Specific indirect associations were estimated using 5,000 bootstrap resamples with bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS

The adjusted structural model showed good fit (CFI = 0.966, TLI = 0.959, RMSEA = 0.034, SRMR = 0.024). Perceived academic demands were positively associated with chronic time pressure (β = 0.539) and psychological distress (β = 0.382). Chronic time pressure was positively associated with psychological distress (β = 0.334) and negatively associated with leisure-time physical activity (β = -0.179), whereas leisure-time physical activity was negatively associated with distress (β = -0.097; all p < 0.001). The specific indirect association through chronic time pressure was B = 0.182 (95% bias-corrected CI [0.134, 0.236]), whereas the serial specific indirect association additionally involving leisure-time physical activity was considerably smaller (B = 0.010, 95% bias-corrected CI [0.005, 0.018]).

CONCLUSIONS

The indirect association through chronic time pressure was substantially larger than the serial indirect association additionally involving leisure-time physical activity, indicating that leisure-time physical activity made only a minimal additional contribution within the concurrent structural model. These findings highlight chronic time pressure as a relevant correlate of student psychological distress and support further investigation of academic time organization alongside opportunities for physical activity. Because the data were cross-sectional, temporal mediation and causal direction cannot be established.