Author(s): JI, J., WANG, Q., Institution: SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY, Country: CHINA, Abstract-ID: 1497

Regular participation in organized sports club activities has been associated with emotional benefits in young adults, yet the neural correlates underlying these effects remain insufficiently understood. This study examined differences in emotional regulation and gray matter volume (GMV) between college students engaged in regular sports club activities and sedentary controls.

Fifteen male college students (20.8 ± 2.1 years) who participated in sports club activities two to four times per week (approximately 1.5 hours per session) were recruited, along with fifteen age-matched sedentary controls (20.5 ± 1.9 years). All participants completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), followed by T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Whole-brain GMV was calculated, and regional GMV values were extracted for the amygdala, dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus, and insula. Group differences were assessed using two-sample t-tests. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to examine associations between regional GMV and emotional measures.

Compared with controls, the sports club group showed significantly higher positive affect scores (p < 0.001) and lower negative affect scores (p = 0.009). Trait anxiety scores were also significantly lower in the sports group (p = 0.035), whereas no group difference was observed in state anxiety (p = 0.872). Structurally, the sports club group exhibited significantly larger GMV in the bilateral dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (left p = 0.007; right p = 0.044) and bilateral insula (left p = 0.041; right p = 0.008). Within the sports club group, trait anxiety scores were negatively correlated with the GMV of the left amygdala (r = -0.549, p = 0.034).

These findings indicate that regular participation in sports club activities among college students is associated with more favorable emotional profiles and distinct structural characteristics in prefrontal, insular, and limbic regions. Such brain-emotion associations may reflect experience-related neural plasticity linked to long-term engagement in organized physical activity.