Social support and psychological safety in university volleyball: a qualitative study of sustained participation

Purpose: Grounded in the framework of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), this study explores how social support contributes to the construction of a sustainable learning ecosystem in university physical education. Focusing on a volleyball elective course, it examines the mechanisms through which teacher support, peer support, and course/organizational support enhance students' psychological safety, interest, self-efficacy, and sustained participation, thereby promoting skill development. Method: = 35). The interview data were analyzed via the coding procedures of constructivist grounded theory. Findings: (1) Teacher support demonstrates a "dual-mode" pattern, integrating structured professional guidance with emotional care, jointly facilitating skill acquisition and psychological safety; (2) Peer support exhibits a "resonance mode," enhancing collaboration, classroom belonging, and sustained participation through cognitive stimulation and emotional resonance; (3) Course and organizational support establish a psychologically safe environment and provide conditions for long-term development, enabling social support to be internalized into students' sustained participation intentions. Conclusion: Sustained participation in university volleyball courses is achieved through an interactive learning ecosystem jointly shaped by teacher, peer, and organizational support. External support is closely associated with stable participation experiences, as reflected in participants' accounts of enhanced psychological safety, increased learning confidence, and sustained engagement. This study highlights the integrative role of multidimensional social support in sustainable learning and provides theoretical implications for ESD-oriented curriculum design in university physical education. The study does not claim causal mechanisms but instead interprets participants' perceived experiences of support within the volleyball learning context.