Abstract
Short video usage poses risks to the health and academic performance of university students. Physical activity (PA) has been recommended as a potential solution to mitigate excessive short video usage and its associated consequences. However, current research has paid limited attention to the impact of PA on different short video usage behaviors. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional survey from April 24 to 30, 2024, to collect data and examine the relationship between PA and short video usage, with depression as a mediator, in domain-specific usage contexts (including short video usage during daytime and nighttime, during study time and leisure time, overall usage, and short video addiction). A total of 1172 students who met the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. Our structural equation modeling analysis revealed that PA was directly associated only with reduced nighttime short video usage (β = -0.12; p < 0.05). Additionally, PA was indirectly associated with reduced short video usage during nighttime (β = -0.03; p < 0.05), study time (β = -0.03; p < 0.05), and leisure time (β = -0.04; p < 0.05), as well as lower levels of short video addiction (β = -0.06; p < 0.05), mediated by depression. However, no significant total effects were observed between PA and daytime short video usage (β = -0.02; p = 0.52) or overall usage (β = -0.04; p = 0.27). In conclusion, our findings suggest that while PA may improve short video addiction and certain specific short video usage behaviors, its actual effects may be limited due to the small effect sizes observed.