Making sense of movement: A qualitative inquiry into university students’ physical exercise experiences, emotional development and social adaptation

Abstract

In the context of increasing emotional vulnerability and social adjustment difficulties among university students in China, there is a growing need to understand the psychosocial mechanisms that support holistic student development. Physical exercise has been widely recognized not only for its physiological benefits but also for its potential role in fostering emotional resilience and social competence. This study adopts a qualitative research approach grounded in social constructivism and practice theory to explore how students construct subjective meaning from their physical exercise experiences in relation to emotional development and social adaptation. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 25 participants from public universities in Guizhou Province, data were analyzed using grounded theory procedures involving open, axial, and selective coding. A conceptual process model was developed, outlining a sequential pathway from physical exercise (comprising motivation, routine, and embodiment) to emotional development (including emotional intelligence, self-insight, and resilience), leading to social adaptation (expressed through peer integration, communication, and social goal orientation), and culminating in subjective meaning construction. Complementing this, sentiment analysis of student narratives confirmed the predominance of positively valenced emotional experiences—such as confidence, belonging, and personal growth—associated with physical activity. These findings offer theoretical insights by reframing emotional development as a multidimensional mediating process and by redefining social adaptation as an interpretive rather than purely behavioral outcome. Practically, the results suggest that emotionally reflective and socially integrative physical activity programs may serve as viable interventions for student development in higher education. Future research may extend these findings through mixed-methods approaches or cross-cultural comparisons to further validate and enrich the model.

Keywords: Physical exercise, emotional development, self-insight, social adaptation, grounded theory.

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