3.1. Description of the Basic Situation of Primary School Students Participating in Physical Exercise
In this survey, a total of 300 primary school students were randomly selected from a primary school in Nanchang as participants. A total of 300 scales were distributed, and 289 were actually recovered, with a recovery rate of 96.33%, of which 280 were valid scales, with an effective rate of 96.89%. The specific composition of the sample is presented in
Table 3:
In
Table 3, among the investigated primary school students, the number of boys is 122, accounting for 43.57%, and the number of girls is 158, accounting for 56.43%. From the first grade to the sixth grade, the numbers are 53, 51, 50, 32, 53, and 41, respectively. The statistics of exercise intensity are exhibited in
Figure 1:
Figure 1 denotes that there is a significant difference in the intensity of physical activity among primary school students in the three primary schools in terms of gender. After calculation, χ
2 = “13.155”,
p = “0.011 < 0.05”. Especially for the participants with moderate training intensity, boy participants are more than girl participants, accounting for 79.7% and 69.1%, respectively. In addition, the exercise intensity of students in the lower grades is relatively small. With the increase in grades, the exercise intensity of students is gradually increasing.
The statistical results for exercise time are expressed in
Figure 2:
Figure 2 indicates that there is an extremely significant difference between boys and girls in the exercise time of each physical exercise. After calculation, χ
2 = “20.727” and
p = “0.000 < 0.001”. Among the people who exercise for more than half an hour each time, the proportion of boys is often higher than that of girls; the proportions are 59.8% and 53.5%, respectively, indicating that boys generally spend more time on physical exercise than girls. It may be due to the influence of living habits and the traditional concept of parents; there are obviously different attitudes towards physical exercise for boys and girls. In the aspects of grade variables, there is also an obvious difference in the time of physical exercise in different grades, χ
2 = “21.066” and
p = “0.049 < 0.05”. In general, with the increase in grades, the time for physical exercise gradually decreases. The reason is that, as the grade increases, the proportion of students’ cultural courses gradually increases, which relatively takes up part of the students’ physical exercise time.
According to the third question in
Table 1, the statistical results of exercise frequency are revealed in
Figure 3:
In
Figure 3, there is a great difference in the frequency of physical exercise between boys and girls. After calculation, χ
2 = “43.980” and
p = “0.000 < 0.001”. The proportion of girls’ exercise frequency less than three times a week is 60.7%, which is significantly higher than that of boys’ 43.8%. The proportion of boys who do physical exercise three to five times a week is 38.3%, while that of girls is 26.9%, illustrating that boys participate in physical exercise more frequently than girls. It may be influenced by the living habits and the traditional concept of parents; there are obviously different attitudes towards physical exercise for boys and girls. There is also a distinct difference in the frequency of physical exercise for students of different grades, χ
2 = “33.319” and
p = “0.001 < 0.01”. The percentage of the six grades is basically the same, with one to two times a week and three to five times a week, but the rate of once a day for the sixth-grade students is lower than that of other grades. This is mainly because the sixth grade is related to the entrance examination from elementary school to junior high school, so students have less time for sports activities.
The associated statistics for the amount of exercise are demonstrated in
Figure 4:
Figure 4 shows that there is a significant difference in the level of the amount of exercise between boys and girls, χ
2 = “13.155”,
p = “0.000 < 0.001”. In the two levels of moderate amount of exercise and high amount of exercise, boys accounted for 58.9% and 23.8%, respectively, higher than girls’ 52.4% and 14.3%. The proportion of girls in the small amount of exercise is 33.3%, which is higher than that of boys, 17.9%. It reflects that boys exercise more than girls in sports. Students of different grades also have great differences in the amount of exercise, χ
2 = “103.92”,
p = “0.044 < 0.05”. Students in grades 1, 2, and 6 are higher than those in grades 3, 4, and 5 on the level of a small amount of exercise, while students in grades 3, 4, and 5 are higher than the other three grades in terms of a moderate amount of exercise.
3.2. Analysis of the Overall Situation of the Positive Psychological Emotions of Primary School Students
The average score for positive emotions of the samples is 2.15 points, with a standard deviation of 0.42. The positive emotion scale uses a five-point scale of 0–4, with a median of 2. The research results reveal that the average score of positive emotions is 2.15, which is higher than the average value, indicating that the level of positive emotions of primary schoolchildren in these three schools is higher, and they can experience more positive emotions in daily life.
Figure 5 refers to the differences in positive psychological emotions for gender and grade.
In
Figure 5, there are obvious differences in the scores of positive emotions in the gender dimension, with the boys scoring higher than the girls. The independent sample
t-test is 4.073,
p = “0.000 < 0.001”. As for the difference in grades, the lower-grade students are significantly higher than the upper-grade students in this aspect, and the second- and third-grade students are marginally significant in the aspect of emotional positivity,
p = “0.058”.
3.3. Analysis of the Effect of Physical Exercise on Positive Psychological Emotions
Figure 6 and
Table 4 illustrate the differences in positive emotions in physical exercise:
Figure 6 and
Table 4 signify that there are significant differences in positive emotions in all dimensions of physical exercise. A further comparison found that there are great differences in the amount of exercise. In terms of exercise intensity, there is no distinct difference in positive psychological emotions in the two dimensions of low intensity and small intensity, and there are high differences in other intensities. In the aspect of duration, the scores of positive emotions are between “under 10 min” and “11 min to 20 min”. There are no significant differences between “31 min to 59 min” and “more than 60 min”. Further, the rest of the durations are significantly different. From the perspective of exercise frequency, the total positive emotion score is an obvious difference between “about once a day” and “about twice a day”, and between “1–2 times a week” and “3–5 times a week”.
The correlation analysis results of physical exercise and positive psychological emotions are illustrated in
Table 5:
Table 5 indicates that there is a significant positive correlation between physical exercise indicators and positive psychological emotions. To detect whether physical exercise has an obvious predictive effect on positive emotions, positive emotion was used as the dependent variable and physical exercise as the predictor variable to establish a linear regression model to explore the causal relationship between fitness exercise and positive emotion. The result is as follows:
Table 6 indicates that physical exercise finally entered the regression model of positive emotions, with a correlation coefficient of 0.297, and physical exercise explained 8.8% of positive emotions.
Through the analysis of the relationship between physical exercise and positive emotions, it is found that there are significant differences between positive emotions and physical exercise and various dimensions. The best time for one exercise is more than 30 min, and there should be at least one physical exercise per week. There is an obvious difference in exercise intensity. Through correlation analysis, it is found that various dimensions of physical exercise are significantly positively correlated with positive emotions. Regression analysis also testifies that physical exercise has a positive guiding effect on positive emotions. In addition to advocating the importance of physical exercise, this research also aims to improve the mental health of primary and secondary school students. Therefore, it is recommended that schools attach importance to the practical application of STEAM education concepts. Schools are recommended to popularize mental health knowledge, grasp the relationship between physical education and psychological emotions, and to regard physical exercise as an important educational means to promote mental health. There are many factors affecting the development of mental health, and schools should take gender, grade, age, and other factors into consideration.