The impact of moderate-intensity basketball intervention on the physical self-esteem and school adjustment of first-year high school students

Research objects and methods

Statistical methods

Statistical analyses were conducted using the social statistical analysis software SPSS 26.0, including homogeneity tests, repeated measures ANOVA, and path analysis mediation role modeling. Furthermore, P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Control and inspection of standard method deviations

The Harman univariate test method was used to test whether a standard method bias existed in all project data. The results revealed that there were 15 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, the maximum factor variance interpretation rate was 19.82%(<40%), and no factors with excessive explanatory power. Thus, no standard severe method deviation problem existed in the data used in this study.

Test of homogeneity between physical self-esteem and school adaptation

Homogeneity was tested using an independent samples t-test, which showed that the difference between physical self-esteem and school adjustment between the test and control groups was not statistically significant (Table 1).

The effects of an exercise intervention on physical self-esteem and school adjustment in first-year high school students

In order to explore the effects of different time and group factors on the school adjustment of first-year high school students, this study adopted a two-factor repeated-measures ANOVA to analyze the data before and after the experiment. The results of the study showed (Table 2) that there was a main effect of the time factor [F_(1,86) = 47.809, p < 0.01, ${\eta }_p^2=0.526$], a main effect of the group factor [F_(1,86) = 11.409, p < 0.01, ${\eta }_p^2=0.210$], and an interaction between the time factor and the group factor [F_(1,86) = 98.210, p < 0.01, ${\eta }_p^2=0.695$]. Simple effects analyses showed (Table 3) that at the pre-test, the difference between the total school adjustment scores of first-year high school students in the basketball group (100.02 ± 10.881 points) and the control group of seniors (96.00 ± 17.337 points) was not statistically significant, p = 0.196. At the post-test, the total school adjustment scores of the seniors in the basketball group were higher than that of the control group of seniors, and the difference was statistically significance, p < 0.01; in the control group, the difference between the total school adjustment scores of first-year high school students (94.80 ± 17.949) and the pre-test (96.00 ± 17.337) was not statistically significant, p = 0.750; in the basketball intervention group, the total school adjustment scores of first-year high school students (112.57 ± 15.001) were higher than that of the pre-test (100.02 ± 10.881), with a statistically significant difference. The difference between the scores was statistically significant, p < 0.01. The results showed that school adjustment of first-year high school students improved significantly after eight weeks of basketball lessons three times a week.

In order to explore the effects of different time and group factors on the physical self-esteem of first-year high school students, this study adopted a two-factor repeated measures ANOVA to analyze the data before and after the experiment. The results of the study showed (Table 4) that there was a main effect of the time factor [F_(1,86) = 214.599, p<0.01, ${\eta }_p^2=0.833$], there was no main effect of the group factor [F_(1,86) = 2.372, p = 0.131, ${\eta }_p^2=0.052$], and there was an interaction between the time factor and the group factor [F_(1,86) = 47.290, p < 0.01, ${\eta }_P^2=0.524$], and a simple effects analysis showed (Table 5) that at the pre-test, there was no statistically significant difference between the total physical self-esteem scores of first-year high school students in the basketball group (65.68 ± 18.125) and the control group of seniors (65.09 ± 15.413) with a p = 0.870; and at the post-test, the total physical self-esteem scores of seniors in the basketball group were higher than the total physical self-esteem scores of first-year high school students in the control group and the difference was statistically significant, p < 0.01; in the control group there was no statistically significant difference between the total physical self-esteem scores of first-year high school students (70.00 ± 15.832) and the pre-test (65.09 ± 15.413), p = 0.144; in the basketball exercise intervention group, the total physical self-esteem scores of first-year high school students (80.48 ± 16.145) were higher than the The difference between the pre-test (65.68 ± 18.125 points) was statistically significant, p < 0.01. The results showed that the physical self-esteem of first-year high school students improved significantly after eight weeks of basketball lessons three times a week.

Modeling the effects of a basketball intervention on school adjustment in first-year high school students

Regression analysis was carried out with the post-experimental measurements of school adaptation of senior students as the dependent variable and different groups as the independent variables, F_(1,86) = 25.399, P < 0.01, R = 0.477, R² = 0.228, ΔR² = 0.219, which indicated that the regression equation was significant and that the basketball intervention had a highly significant effect on school adaptation of senior students.

Taking the scores of senior students’ physical self-esteem post-experiment measurements as the dependent variable and different groups as the independent variable, regression analysis was conducted, F_(1,86) = 9.446, P < 0.01, R = 0.315, R² = 0.099, ΔR² = 0.088, indicating that the regression equation is significant. The basketball intervention has a very significant effect on the physical self-esteem of senior students.

The regression analysis was carried out with the scores measured after the experiment on school adaptation of senior students as the dependent variable and with the scores measured after the experiment on physical self-esteem of different groups as the independent variable, and the regression analyses were carried out, and the results of F_(2,85) = 4.153, P < 0.05, R = 0.514, R² = 0.264, ΔR² = 0.247 indicated that the regression equation was significant, and that the effect of basketball sports intervention on the physical self-esteem and school adaptation of senior students was very significant.

In summary, the mediating effect of body esteem was significant (Table 6). The mediating effect model is shown in Fig. 1. It shows that basketball sports intervention has a direct effect on senior students’ school adjustment; on the other hand, basketball sports intervention has an indirect effect on senior students’ school adjustment through body self-esteem. The mediating effect of body esteem as a percentage of the total effect was 0.315 × 0.200/(0.477) × 100% = 13.21%.

The effects of a basketball intervention on upper-level students’s school adjustment

The results of this study showed that after eight weeks of basketball exercise, the overall school adjustment of first-year high school students in the basketball exercise intervention group improved significantly. Likewise, the dimensions of school adjustment changed in a positive direction. Regarding school attitudes (Tables 2 and 3), first-year high school students continued to familiarise themselves with the school and adapt to the school environment during practice, thus increasing their sense of belonging and reliance on the school. Regarding peer relationships (Tables 2 and 3), basketball can increase communication between classmates and promote emotional warming. Good peer relationships can create positive emotional attitudes toward school among first-year high school students. At the same time, basketball can cultivate a sense of cooperation and teamwork among first-year high school students and promote positive emotional relationships among peers. In terms of teacher-student relationships (Tables 2 and 3), after eight weeks of living together, students and teachers have established deep friendships with each other, which promotes good teacher-student relationships, and first-year high school students can actively participate in class and school activities, which further promotes students’ classroom performance in class, and enables them to learn basketball skills more quickly. Regarding academic adjustment (Tables 2 and 3), good interpersonal relationships, especially teacher-student relationships, can promote students’ academic growth and active learning. In routine adaptation (Tables 2 and 3), first-year high school students could adapt quickly to returning to school after the epidemic and were fully engaged in their academic life. The study found that basketball is a collective sport, which can strengthen the cooperation and communication between students and require synergistic cooperation between individuals, and the passing and receiving, cover cooperation, and blocking techniques in basketball requires tacit cooperation between individuals and the ability to think differently from each other, which can strengthen the interaction and communication between students and teachers, and can enhance the degree of intimacy between students and teachers. The study also found that good inter-school interpersonal relationships can promote school adaptation, including teacher-student relationships, school attitudes, and other aspects so that students deepen their emotions towards the school, which is conducive to better school adaptation (Chen et al., 2019; Harris, Altekruse & Engels, 2003; Kliziene et al., 2018; Ren et al., 2017; Xiong, Liu & Zhang, 2020). Compared with other studies, the results of this study are consistent with the performance of basketball team events in peer relationship, teacher-student relationship and school attitude dimensions, and the performance of this study is more obvious, the effects on academic adaptation and routine adaptation are less pronounced. Overall, performing basketball practice significantly affects students’ school adjustment. Thus, hypothesis H1 is verified. And there is no main effect of time for the two dimensions of peer relationship and school adjustment, which indicates that peer relationship and school adjustment do not change much over time, and the scores of the pos t-test are lower than those of the pre-test (Tables 2 and 3), which may be due to the following reasons: firstly, the current intervention was opened after the improvement of the epidemic, and the students met each other more on the computer, with very little communication, coupled with the limited time of the intervention, which led to the existence of some; Secondly, as students who just entered high school from junior high school, their personalities changed compared to junior high school, and they paid more attention to themselves, with little communication among peers, and under the influence of the epidemic, communication among classmates was even more rare; then, under the influence of the epidemic, the time and place of students’ classes were highly irregular, and they faced computers in class at any time, which led to unstable classes and affected their academic performance; finally, the regular physical education classes were slightly unstable. Finally, regular physical education classes could be more exciting. During the pandemic, students are asked to keep their distance and lack communication, which is different from the cooperative communication of basketball in the experimental group, in which many exercises require cooperation between two or more people, which is conducive to communication between each other.

The effects of a basketball intervention on upper school students’ physical self-esteem

The results of this study show that after eight weeks of basketball, the overall condition of physical self-esteem of first-year high school students in the basketball intervention group was significantly improved, which verified our initial research hypothesis and was also supported by related studies that physical education and sports have the effect of promoting the physical and mental health of senior students, and that some of the indicators of physical and mental health have a close correlation with the occurrence of physical self-esteem (Bai, 2022), and that similarly, physical self-esteem dimensions also changed in a positive direction, specifically in the four dimensions of motor skills, physical condition, physical attractiveness, and sense of self-worth, with a slight improvement in the physical fitness dimension, and a non-significant main effect of the group factor, suggesting that the differences between the different intervention groups were not significant. Regarding motor skills (Tables 4 and 5), the ratings of the ability to learn new skills and the level of self-confidence were included. In basketball learning, there are strict requirements for first-year high school students’ strength, coordination, speed, etc.; they need to maintain good body posture and control their core in the practice process. After eight weeks of basketball learning, first-year high school students’ ability and skills in all sports were improved, and they could use their basketball skills, which stimulated the students’ interest in sports and helped them to improve their self-confidence. In terms of physical fitness (Tables 4 and 5), first-year high school students improved their muscular, respiratory, and physical fitness levels through the coordinated development of their upper and lower limbs to complete basketball exercises. In terms of physical attractiveness (Tables 4 and 5), first-year high school students can discover their changes through this process of change, which can cultivate the beauty of healthy, positive, and optimistic physical form of senior students, thus promoting the improvement of self-confidence. In terms of physical self-worth (Tables 4 and 5), through continuous practice, first-year students continue to gain physical and psychological satisfaction, which promotes their appreciation of their bodies and enhances their confidence in their appearance, making them appreciate themselves more in life. Therefore, after eight weeks of basketball practice, physical self-worth has a positive impact. In terms of physical fitness (Tables 4 and 5), the duration of the training cycle needed to be longer, which led to less pronounced improvement and slower progress for the students. Compared with other studies, the results of this study are consistent with the performance of basketball team events in terms of motor skills, physical status, physical attractiveness and self-worth; however, there was only a small improvement in the fitness dimension, perhaps because of the short duration compared with other studies. Overall, conducting basketball practice has a significant effect on students’ physical self-esteem. Thus, hypothesis H2 is verified. Practicing in basketball class makes students focus on their self-perception and identification of their sense of self-worth, especially students’ improvement in motor skills, physical condition, physical attractiveness, and sense of self-worth is more prominent. The analysis of the experimental data (Tables 4 and 5) showed that the students’ self-confidence in the experimental group increased significantly, and their interest in learning basketball increased. The recognition of basketball is high. This shows that basketball teaching has a positive effect on physical self-esteem and, even more so, on psychological benefits. At the same time, teachers were instructed to carry out targeted educational activities to dig deeper into the potential of students’ basketball in the teaching process, personalize the teaching, and improve students’ lifelong sports awareness.

Physical self-esteem mediates the relationship between basketball intervention and school adjustment in upper school students

Through the analysis of the established structural equation model, it was learned that body self-esteem played a partially mediating role and had a significant effect on basketball sports intervention and school adaptation, indicating that basketball sports intervention could be achieved through the indirect effect of body self-esteem in addition to its direct effect on school adaptation. Research has shown that physical activity reduces obesity and enhances self-esteem and school adjustment (Young & Young, 2014). Scholars have found that participation in physical activity can indirectly improve adolescents’ school adjustment by improving their self-perception (De Moor et al., 2006). Studies have also found that physical self-esteem is predictive of school adjustment in high school students (Angelo Junior et al., 2021; Sung-Hoon & Jong-Hoon, 2017) and that students who exercise regularly produce higher levels of self-esteem and achievement have a positive impact on school adjustment (Kim, Jang & Cho, 2020). Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald & Aherne (2012) found that increasing self-esteem through physical activity improves adjustment in adolescent girls. The present study found that increasing students’ physical self-esteem may improve school adjustment. In physical education classes, especially basketball, which is a physically confrontational sport, extra attention is paid to physical training and motor skills, and the process of their rising athletic level is bound to be accompanied by an increase in the level of self-esteem of the body, leading to a reasonable school adjustment of the students. Therefore, if we want to improve the school adjustment of first-year high school students, it is essential to improve the body’s self-esteem.

Shortcomings of this study and prospects

Due to the impact of the epidemic, the original 12-week experiment was shortened to 8 weeks, which is a relatively short span; in the future, consideration should be given to resuming the 12-week or increasing the intervention time to 16 weeks and adding intermediate measurements in the course of the experiment; the mediator was only considered to be an indicator of self-esteem, but in the future, more indicators can be added to carry out the research; a cross-lagged model can be set up with the three variables of physical exercise, self-esteem, and school adjustment to conduct follow-up studies on the subjects.