The Effect of Perceived Social Support on the Quality of Life of Physical Education Students with the Mediating Role of Self-Esteem

Background: Improving the quality of life of students has become one of the main educational concerns. Therefore, the present study investigated the mediating role of self-esteem in the relationship between perceived social support and the quality of life of physical education students. 

Methods: This research is part of an intra-university research project at the Shahrood University of Technology and has an ethical code number IR.SHAHROODUT.REC.1401.022. In terms of practical purpose, in terms of data collection method, it was descriptive-correlation and structural equation modeling. The statistical population was all physical education students of Urmia University in the academic year 2022-2023, and 157 people were selected as a sample. To measure the research variables, Zimet et al.'s perceived social support questionnaires (1988), the World Health Organization's quality of life (1996), and Rosenberg's self-esteem (1965) were used. The validity and reliability of the questionnaires were confirmed. Data analysis was done with the structural equation modeling method and Smart PLS 2 software. 

Results: The results showed that perceived social support directly and positively affects the quality of life. Perceived social support directly and positively affects self-esteem. Self-esteem directly and positively affects the quality of life. Also, self-esteem has been able to play a mediating role between perceived social support and quality of life. 

Conclusion: Therefore, it is suggested that the families of the students as well as the relevant officials should provide the necessary support to the students in this challenging period so that students have a good quality of life in this critical period of their lives. In previous researches, the twoby-two relationship of the variables was examined, but no research has been done that examines the relationship between perceived social support and quality of life with the mediating role of self-esteem. In addition, no research has been done on students in this regard. The results of the present study showed that with more social support and increased self-esteem of students, a better quality of life can be predicted for them