ESP-4571

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2026-03-31

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Vol. 11 No. 3 (2026): Publishing

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Research Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Yuqiang Qin, Adelina A. Sebastian, Qingli Pan

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How to Cite

Yuqiang Qin, Adelina A. Sebastian, & Qingli Pan. (2026). Promoting effects of sports-based community building on urban-rural economic synergy in Yulin: The mediating role of group cohesion. Environment and Social Psychology, 11(3), ESP-4571. https://doi.org/10.59429/esp.v11i3.4571

Promoting effects of sports-based community building on urban-rural economic synergy in Yulin: The mediating role of group cohesion

Yuqiang Qin

College of Arts, Science and Education, Trinity University of Asia, Philippines ; China Guangxi Yulin Education East Road East 1303 (Yulin Normal University)

Adelina A. Sebastian

College of Arts, Science and Education, Trinity University of Asia, Philippines

Qingli Pan

College of Arts, Science and Education, Trinity University of Asia, Philippines; China Guangxi Yulin Education East Road East 1303 (Yulin Normal University)


DOI: https://doi.org/10.59429/esp.v11i3.4571


Keywords: sports community building; group cohesion; urban-rural economic coordinated development; mediating effect; urban-rural disparities; environmental psychology

Abstract

This study examines the associations between sports community building and urban-rural economic coordinated development in the Yulin region, exploring the mediating role of group cohesion from an interdisciplinary perspective integrating environmental psychology and social psychology. Through systematic integration of open-source data encompassing 600 data entries related to sports community participants, this study conducts quantitative analysis by referencing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) parameters and Bootstrap mediation effect testing results synthesized from existing empirical literature. The findings reveal that the overall level of sports community building in Yulin is moderately high (M=3.42), with urban communities (M=3.78) significantly outperforming rural communities (M=2.95); physical environment development is relatively well-established, but institutional environment construction remains inadequate. Sports community building is significantly and positively associated with urban-rural economic coordinated development (β=0.52, p<0.001), with the social environment dimension showing the strongest association. Group cohesion serves as a partial mediator, with a mediation effect of 0.244, accounting for 46.9% of the total effect; the mediating contribution of task cohesion (27.3%) exceeds that of social cohesion (19.6%). Social identity and place attachment are associated with cohesion formation through chain pathways, which in turn correlates with economic development outcomes. Urban-rural disparities exhibit significant moderating effects, with the proportion of mediation effect in rural communities (62.5%) surpassing that in urban communities (45.8%), and the moderating intensity diminishes as economic development levels increase. This research illuminates the psychosocial associations through which sports community building correlates with economic coordinated development by cultivating social capital and enhancing collective action capacity, thereby providing theoretical foundations and practical pathways for the transformation and development of resource-based cities in western China and urban-rural integration, while enriching the application of environmental psychology in community governance and economic development research. The study employs a cross-sectional quantitative research design based on open-source data integration, which has temporal limitations for causal inference, and the synthesized secondary data may be subject to inherent limitations of the original sources. The sample is limited to the Yulin region, and external validity needs to be further verified in regions with different developmental stages and cultural contexts.

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