Background: College students’ participation in physical education (PE) classes is of great significance to teaching effectiveness and students’ physical and mental health. However, few studies have explored the influencing factors and mechanisms of PE class engagement. This study aims to investigate the association between college students’ perceived PE environment and their PE class engagement, as well as the mediating roles of perceived teacher support and academic self-efficacy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,158 Chinese college students from December 1 to 31, 2024. Variables were measured using the Perceived Physical Education Environment Scale, Perceived Teacher Support Scale, Academic Self-Efficacy Scale, and Classroom Engagement Scale. Mplus 8.11 was used to perform latent profile analysis on the perceived PE environment, which classified the participants into three groups: low-perception group, medium-perception group, and high-perception group. Amos 28.0 was employed to construct a structural equation model, and SPSS 26.0 was used to test the mediating effects. Results: In the total sample and the three groups, the perceived PE environment was significantly and positively correlated with college students’ PE class engagement (p < 0.01). In the medium-perception and high-perception groups of PE environment, perceived teacher support and academic self-efficacy played both individual mediating roles and a chain mediating role in the relationship between perceived PE environment and PE class engagement. However, in the low-perception group of PE environment, the mediating role of perceived teacher support was not significant, while the chain mediating role remained significant. Conclusion: This study identifies that perceived teacher support and academic self-efficacy are key mechanisms linking the perceived PE environment to students’ class engagement, and this sequential mechanism is particularly important in the context of low perceived PE environment. The results of this study emphasize the practical significance of strengthening school PE environments and resources, improving teachers’ guidance and support, and fostering students’ academic self-efficacy for enhancing students’ class engagement. 2026 Guan, Zhang and Wu.
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