Movement, Motivation, and Mental Health: Psychological Pathways to Well-Being Across the Lifespan in Vulnerable Populations

Movement, sport, and physical activity are increasingly recognised not only for their physical benefits but also as important contexts for promoting psychological well-being across the lifespan. Their impact on mental health is shaped by a range of psychological mechanisms, including motivation, self-regulation, resilience, self-compassion, self-efficacy, identity, and social belonging, which influence both engagement in movement and its psychological outcomes. These processes are particularly relevant for populations facing significant developmental or contextual challenges, such as children and adolescents experiencing social disadvantage, older adults adapting to age-related cognitive and functional changes, and competitive athletes coping with performance demands and identity pressures. Although these groups differ in their life circumstances, they share common psychological pathways through which movement-based experiences can foster resilience, strengthen social connectedness, and support mental health. However, research on developmental psychology, ageing, and sport psychology has largely progressed in parallel, limiting opportunities to identify shared mechanisms and transferable interventions. Bringing these perspectives together offers the potential to better understand how movement supports psychological well-being across diverse populations and to inform evidence-based approaches in education, coaching, rehabilitation, and community settings.This Research Topic examines the psychological mechanisms — motivation, self-regulation, resilience, self-compassion, and social belonging — through which movement-based experiences protect and promote mental health in two groups facing distinct developmental pressures: children and adolescents affected by social disadvantage, and older adults facing age-related decline. It also welcomes work on competitive athletes, where similar psychological processes (resilience, self-compassion, identity) operate under performance and identity pressure. Rather than treating sport psychology, developmental psychology, and ageing research as separate literatures, this collection asks how the same core mechanisms — self-belief, coping, motivation, social connection — explain both participation and psychological outcomes across these groups. We welcome quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies, intervention trials, and theory-driven papers that specify the psychological mechanism under study and its practical implications for coaching, education, rehabilitation, or policy.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:- Psychological mechanisms of movement-based interventions in socially disadvantaged children and adolescents- Movement, cognition, and psychological well-being in older adults- Resilience, self-compassion, and coping in athletes and physically active populations- Motivation, self-regulation, and self-efficacy in sustained physical activity participation- Social belonging, identity, and support processes linking movement to mental health- Culturally sensitive and lifespan-oriented approaches to movement-based psychological support Topic editors: Yutao Zhou, Francesco Vincenzo Ferraro, Shuge Zhang (CPsychol) Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83524/movement-motivation-and-mental-health-psychological-pathways-to-well-being-across-the-lifespan-in-vulnerable-populations