The relationship between teacher care and Chinese college students' physical education class learning satisfaction: the chain mediation effect of exercise enjoyment and exercise self-efficacy.

Background: Teacher care is a key factor influencing college students' satisfaction with physical education (PE) courses. Insufficient teacher care may diminish students' learning motivation and exercise engagement, affecting their physical and mental well-being. Yet, the mechanisms linking teacher care to PE learning satisfaction remain unclear, particularly the roles of exercise enjoyment and exercise self-efficacy. Objective: To investigate the impact of teacher care on college students' physical education class learning satisfaction in Chinese universities and to validate the mediating role of exercise enjoyment and exercise self-efficacy between the two. Methods: A clustered convenience sample of 1,198 college students from Chinese universities completed the Teacher Care Scale, Physical Education Class Satisfaction Scale, Exercise Enjoyment Scale, and Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale. Results: Teacher care was significantly and positively associated with students' physical education (PE) class satisfaction (B = 0.136, p < 0.001). It also had significant positive associations with exercise enjoyment (B = 0.673, p < 0.001) and exercise self-efficacy (B = 0.176, p < 0.001). Exercise enjoyment was positively associated with exercise self-efficacy (B = 0.700, p < 0.001) and PE class satisfaction (B = 0.213, p < 0.001). Exercise self-efficacy was also significantly associated with PE class satisfaction (B = 0.268, p < 0.001). Further mediation analysis indicated that exercise enjoyment and exercise self-efficacy jointly mediated the relationship between teacher care and PE class satisfaction. Conclusion: This study enriches the theoretical understanding of motivational and affective mechanisms in physical education and offers practical implications for improving teaching quality and student well-being. Limitations include the cross-sectional design and self-report data, which restrict causal inference and generalizability. Future research could employ longitudinal or mixed-method approaches across more diverse educational contexts to validate and extend these findings.