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Objective This study aims to examine a chain mediation model, investigating whether positive parenting styles influence physical education teacher education students’ meaning in life through sequential mediation of physical activity and smartphone addiction. Methods A cross-sectional design was employed, recruiting Chinese physical education teacher education students as participants via stratified sampling. Standardized scales measured positive parenting styles, physical activity, smartphone addiction, and meaning in life. After controlling for demographic variables such as gender and grade level, chain mediation effects were tested using the Bootstrap method. Results Positive parenting styles showed a significant positive association with meaning in life ( β = 0.743, p 0.001). Mediation analysis revealed three pathways through which positive parenting styles indirectly influenced meaning in life: mediated by physical activity ( β = 0.270, p 0.001); mediated by smartphone addiction ( β = 0.082, p 0.001); and through a chained mediating effect where physical activity subsequently influences smartphone addiction ( β = 0.102, p 0.001). The total indirect effect value was 0.454, accounting for 61.104% of the total effect. The Bootstrap confidence intervals for all paths did not include zero, indicating that all mediating effects were statistically significant. Conclusion This study demonstrates that positive parenting styles are not only directly associated with a higher meaning in life but may also exert indirect effects by promoting physical activity (independent mediating path), reducing smartphone addiction (independent mediating path), and via the sequential path “physical activity → reduced smartphone addiction” (chain mediating path). The findings provide an integrated perspective for understanding the behavioral mechanisms through which family environments influence the psychological development and professional identity of physical education teacher education students. Future research should employ longitudinal designs to further validate the causal and temporal relationships among these variables.
Ma et al. (2026) studied this question.