Physical activity (PA) involves the most minor to most complex planned and unplanned movements made by individuals, which results in energy consumption (Coetzee, Du Toit & De Vos 2016). Physical activity can also be regarded as daily routine activities like running, walking and moderate to vigorous body movements (eds. Kohl & Cook 2013). Participation in physical activity helps to prevent chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and depression in children, while physical inactivity is detrimental to their health (Menescardi & Estevan 2021). However, most children between 5 and 17 years old need to meet the recommended participation in PA of at least 60 min from moderate to vigorous PA per day (Bull et al. 2020). A low level of PA participation is usually due to certain obstacles in children’s environment (Estevan et al. 2021).

The use of behavioural theory is important when designing PA interventions as the theoretical constructs can help researchers determine how the intervention works and how future interventions can be modified and improved (Michie & Abraham 2004). In our study, the social cognitive theory (Bandura 1986; Bandura & Walters 1997) gives a good theoretical basis for assessing the behavioural, social and motivational factors associated with PA behaviours. The social cognitive theory talks about how children behave through interaction with peers, siblings, teachers and parents at home and school. The theory has been grounded as a basis for understanding PA behaviours. According to Bandura (1986), school children learn certain behaviours from others but sometimes acquire behaviour themselves. The social cognitive theory is made up of three components, namely social support, self-efficacy and enjoyment.

Research on the effect of social support factors on PA among children is highly recommended in public health (Cheng et al. 2020). The differences in PA between boys and girls may be caused by differences in social support provided by parents and peers (Cheng et al. 2020). In addition, schools are regarded as ideal places to promote PA participation levels in children, as school-based interventions have proved to be effective (Eather, Morgan & Lubans 2013). Assessing the mediating role of perceived social support factors on the relationship between PA enjoyment and PA participation levels among children can help design interventions to increase PA participation levels and help prevent chronic diseases. Studies have also been encouraged to explore and report mediators of PA change in children’s interventions (Lubans, Foster & Biddle 2008).

Social support has a significant influence in promoting school children’s PA participation levels (Biddle & Goudas 1996; Davison 2004; Sallis, Prochaska & Taylor 2000). Social support is defined as school children’s support and help from family, peers and acquaintances. It is also viewed as any form of support given by guardians, parents and peers that assist school children in increasing PA behaviour (Monteiro, Rodrigues & Lopes 2021). It has been shown in many studies that social support has many benefits. The studies have shown that parental, teacher and peer support are associated with improved PA participation among children and adolescents (Haidar et al. 2019; Korcz et al. 2018). Social support has been shown to be associated with children’s engagement in regular PA participation. Studies show that social support brings self-efficacy in children’s moderate and vigorous PA participation levels (Biddle & Goudas 1996; Johnson et al. 2000). In a study by Van Der Horst et al. (2007), results indicated that the age of the children strongly influences PA participation level.

Family encouragement describes any form of support from parents that enables the children to go and participate in sporting activities. These include activities such as buying equipment or paying fees and transportation (Duncan, Duncan & Strycker 2005; Prochaska, Rodgers & Sallis 2002). Engaging in these activities promotes lifestyle behaviour (Biddle & Goudas 1996; Dowda et al. 2007). Some families have greater encouragement, which helps shape important attitudes and behaviours associated with PA participation (Edwardson et al. 2013). This means that families can act as role models in their homes to increase PA participation in children. Evidence shows that parental support of school learners in PA participation also contributes to maintaining PA participation habits (Tremblay et al. 2015). It is important to note that a lack of family and friend encouragement decreases PA participation at the adolescent stage (Campos et al. 2019).

On the other hand, peers also play a pivotal role in influencing the behaviour of other peers (Smith 1999). During adolescence, peers share emotional support and friendship. Peers like to behave the same to fit into the company of others. This type of friendship is common during childhood and adolescence (Smith 1999). Physical activity participation is an important common ground for peer interaction, and it provides a conducive environment for learning the rules of the games they enjoy playing, and by so doing, it increases PA participation levels. A study by Smith (1999) showed that a higher understanding of peer acceptance and perceptions of good friendships positively affected PA participation. As children grow up, they distance themselves from their parents and spend more time with peers or hanging around with friends. Peer support within the communities can help with the creation of clubs in the community where learners live. These clubs would then create teams for sporting activities in the communities and then participate in PA with peer involvement (Beets, Pitetti & Forlaw 2007). The support from parents and peers has the same impact, but peer support exceeded parental support only for ages between 16 and 18 years (Bokhorst, Sumter & Westenberg 2010). Research suggests that peers have more influence on adolescent development in PA participation (Van Der Horst et al. 2007).

The school teacher has a role in the children’s PA participation. Children spend most of their time at school and are more influenced by teachers and classmates, and this is a notable adolescent development (WHO 2010). Teachers impart knowledge and skills through the sporting games played by children. The teacher’s influence starts in the classroom when teaching life orientation (or physical education) and extra-curricular sports in the school. The learners will then apply the skills taught in class and the extra-curricular activities to participate in physical activities to improve their healthy lifestyle throughout their lives (Fairclough, Stratton & Baldwin 2002; Sallis et al. 1997). Thus, physical education classes at school build intrinsic motivation in children to live a healthy lifestyle (Bortoli et al. 2018; Vitali et al. 2019). However, Bokhorst et al. (2010) revealed that teacher support is lower in older age groups.

The differences in gender are important considerations in understanding the impact of social support from peers, parents, teachers and its PA participation levels relationship (Edwardson et al. 2013). Boys and girls have different choices for social support. These differences may influence the relationship between PA participation and different sources of social support (Edwardson et al. 2013). Studies have also shown that boys tend to receive more peer support to engage in PA than girls, with girls often receiving little to no peer support (Edwardson et al. 2013). In a study by Bronikowski et al. (2018), the results showed that boys get more support from teachers, while on the other hand, Edwardson et al. (2013) reported that girls have greater social support in general. Bokhorst et al. (2010) also reported that girls receive more support from teachers, peers and classmates than boys. The residential area also influences the level of PA participation. Rural children participate more in PA than urban and peri-urban children (Gomwe et al. 2022). This may be attributed to the lifestyle differences within the environmental settings. In rural areas, most learners walk long distances and engage in more physical household chores than in urban and peri-urban settings (Gomwe et al. 2022). Exploring mediators of PA participation in children can help to modify effective behaviour change interventions (Salmon, Brown & Hume 2009; Lubans et al. 2008). Our study seeks to assess the mediating role of perceived social support factors on the relationship between physical activity enjoyment and physical activity participation levels among rural, peri-urban and urban school children.

Our aim was to assess the moderating role of social support factors on the relationship between physical activity enjoyment and physical activity participation levels among primary school children. This is important because it helps develop effective intervention programmes that promote physical activity participation. We provided tangible evidence of the influence of social support for both girls and boys in promoting PA participation. According to our results, peer, family and teacher encouragement were partial mediators in the relationship between perceived physical activity enjoyment and perceived physical activity participation. This is in support of other studies, which have shown that social support has a significant influence in promoting school children’s PA participation levels (Davison 2004). Further, the benefits of social support are also substantiated by several studies repeatedly showing that peer, family and teacher support are associated with higher levels of PA participation among children and adolescents (Haidar et al. 2019; Korcz et al. 2018).

The mediating role of peer support and/or encouragement makes sense from a developmental perspective, as peer support in young children is generally a dominant social factor that plays a critical role in developing PA motivation and engagement (Zhang et al. 2012). Our results are similar to the study by Smith (1999) in the sub-Saharan Africa. Another possible cause for the established mediating effect may be how children distance themselves from their parents and spend more time with peers or hang around with friends (Bortoli et al. 2018; Vitali et al. 2019). Peer support has been reported as having the same impact as parental support in promoting PA participation; however, peer support exceeds parental support for ages between 16 years and 18 years (Bokhorst et al. 2010). Thus, research suggests that peers have more influence on adolescent development in PA participation (Van Der Horst et al. 2007).

The significance of family encouragement as a partial mediator on the relationship between perceived PA enjoyment and perceived PA participation can be attributed to the form of support from parents that enables children to participate in sporting activities like buying equipment or payment of fees and transportation (Duncan et al. 2005). Thus, they will be promoting lifestyle behaviour (Dowda et al. 2007). In addition, families teach children skills and beliefs and act as role models, and this can assist in shaping important attitudes and behaviours associated with increasing PA participation in children (Edwardson et al. 2013). In our study, family encouragement was reported as having the most considerable mediating effect, followed by teacher encouragement, which may make sense because support from family is broad. There are siblings and parents in the family so family support can manifest in many different ways. This result is consistent with other studies that highlighted family encouragement as having a more significant impact in promoting PA participation among children (Duncan et al. 2005; Tremblay et al. 2015). It is also important to note that a lack of family encouragement decreases PA participation at the adolescent stage (Campos et al. 2019).

In our study, teacher encouragement was also found to be partially mediating the relationship between perceived PA enjoyment and perceived PA participation. It is second after the family encouragement, according to our findings. The teacher’s influence starts in the classroom when teaching life orientation (or physical education) and extra-curricular sports in the school. The learners will then apply the skills taught in class and in the extra-curricular activities to participate in physical activities to improve their health throughout their lives. Several studies have also shown that teachers can instill children’s intrinsic motivation for PA and their perceived sporting games competence when they support PA goals and provide positive feedback in a classroom environment (Koka & Hein 2003). Furthermore, teachers have an influential role in learning in the general classroom environment, where children imitate the teacher’s knowledge, role modelling, behaviours and opinions. Our results are similar to other studies, which found that teacher support was more effective in small children but lower in older age groups, and this may have been caused by the changes that take place from lower grades to upper grades. The same study also showed that girls alone receive more support from teachers than boys (Bokhorst et al. 2010).

Our results on gender indicated that boys participate in PA more than girls. These findings contradict the results in Europe, whereby more than two-thirds of European children are active regardless of gender differences (Zembura et al. 2018). However, as stated by Dumith et al. (2011), although PA participation decline among girls was greater between 9 and 12 years old, among boys, it was greater at the ages of 13 and 16 years. The differences in PA participation between boys and girls may be caused by differences in social support provided by parents and peers (Cheng et al. 2020). In terms of place of residence, our study supports the findings of Gomwe et al. (2022) that rural children participate more in PA as compared to urban and peri-urban children. This may be attributed to the differences in lifestyle within environment settings. Most children walk long distances to and from school in rural areas and engage in more physical household chores than in urban and peri-urban settings (Gomwe et al. 2022). The urban environment could be less conducive to PA participation for safety reasons. The high crime rate in urban neighbourhood decreases PA participation levels.

There were low levels of perceived physical activity participation among the school learners. Peer, family and teacher encouragement partially mediates the relationship between perceived PA enjoyment and perceived PA participation. Our study has shown that family encouragement has the largest mediating effect, followed by teacher encouragement. To prevent further low levels of perceived PA participation among school learners, a supportive social environment around PA participation must be implemented, focusing more on enhancing the roles of family and teachers in supporting PA participation in children.