4.3.4. Psychological reactance

Researchers (Dillard and Shen, 2005; Rains, 2013; Feng et al., 2018) have argued that psychological reactance should be considered as a latent variable comprising cognition and affect, specifically negative cognition and anger (Quick and Considine, 2008; Quick et al., 2017). Research results in non-Western cultures still support this view (Quick and Kim, 2009). We followed this suggestion and adapted the measurement items for negative cognition and anger from Dillard and Shen (2005), Wang and Lu (2014), and Feng et al. (2018). Negative cognition was measured by four items assessing the extent to which students consider the school “ignored student’ rights to choose extracurricular exercise methods,” “did not provide enough exercise options for students,” “failed to satisfy students’ demands for extracurricular exercise” and “did not provide enough exercise facilities for students.” Anger was measured by four items assessing the extent to which students felt the “annoyed,” “unhappy,” “uncomfortable,” and “angry” about the mandated campus running.