Physical activity and academic burnout among middle school students: uncovering cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression

Objective This study examined whether cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression mediate the association between physical activity and academic burnout among students at Huaihua Experimental Junior High School. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,529 junior high school students. Participants completed the Learning Burnout Scale for Middle School Students (LBS-MSS), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA), and the Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 (PARS-3). Data were analyzed using SPSS 28.0, Amos 27.0, and the PROCESS macro. Results Academic burnout was negatively associated with physical activity ( r = −0.279, p < 0.01), cognitive reappraisal ( r = −0.267, p < 0.01), and expressive suppression ( r = −0.060, p < 0.05). Physical activity was positively associated with cognitive reappraisal ( r = 0.493, p < 0.01) and expressive suppression ( r = 0.503, p < 0.01). Regression analysis showed that physical activity significantly predicted academic burnout ( β = −0.131, p < 0.001). Mediation analyses indicated that cognitive reappraisal significantly mediated this association (indirect effect = −0.084), whereas expressive suppression showed an attenuating indirect effect (effect = 0.056). Conclusion Physical activity was negatively associated with academic burnout among junior high school students. Cognitive reappraisal partially mediated this association, whereas expressive suppression showed an inconsistent indirect effect that attenuated part of the protective association. Given the modest effect sizes, these findings should be interpreted cautiously but suggest that different emotion regulation strategies may play distinct roles in the link between physical activity and academic burnout.