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To the best of our knowledge, this is the first metaanalysis review that examined the correlation between SS and PA among college and university students. The main finding of this review showed a small to moderate positive association between SS and PA, with friend support more strongly associated with PA than family support. In addition, gender factors had a significant moderating effect on the correlation between SS and PA. With regard to total support, we identified a moderate association r .30, 95 CI 0.23, 0.37 with PA in this review, which is similar to the findings in children and adolescents Laird et al., 2016 Mendonça et al., 2014. It suggests that SS plays an important role in influencing the PA levels and fostering SS within interventions could potentially lead to an increase in PA among college and university students. However, two of the included studies showed a trivial association between SS and PA among college or university students. The study by Farren et al. 2017 found that SS had a trivial correlation r .03 with the PA level of students who meet aerobic physical activity guidelines, while had a small to moderate correlation with the PA level of students who meet musclestrengthening or both aerobic and musclestrengthening physical activity guidelines. This is probably because students who meet musclestrengthening or both aerobic and musclestrengthening physical activity guidelines tend to prefer team sports that are closely linked to social networks. The study by Shima et al. 2022 examined the relationship between SS and PA among Chinese college students during the COVID19 pandemic and found a trivial association r .05. The restrictions on campus during the COVID19 pandemic prevented most students from being physically active, which led to a weak link between SS and PA among college students. Therefore, normally, there is a strong relationship between SS and PA among college and university students, especially those who enjoy participating in team sports. It is interesting to note that friend support was more strongly associated with PA than family support among college and university students r .27, 95 CI 0.17, 0.37 vs. r .14, 95 CI 0.07, 0.21, which is inconsistent with findings in children and adolescents Laird et al., 2016 Mendonça et al., 2014. The difference could be attributed to students’ transitions to young adulthood and college or university. These transitions often involve a shift in social identity, where they seek to establish new social connections, explore their independence, and form new social groups Tajfel et al., 1979. Therefore, students are more likely to draw sources of support from their new identities i.e., college or university friends to better adapt to change than previous identities i.e., family members. College or university friends can give them more participatory and companionable support for PA Belanger Patrick, 2018. For example, making plans to engage in PA, changing their schedules for PA, and participating in PA together. These participatory and companionable supports can then facilitate the PA participation of students. On the contrary, the association between parental and student PA bifurcates as students enter college or university and become more independent from each other, leading to a gradual weakening of the role of parental modeling behaviors Yao Rhodes, 2015. Therefore, fostering SS, especially friend support, within interventions may improve the PA levels of college and university students more efficiently. Our review also found that gender significantly moderated the relationship between SS and PA, but age and region did not. Subgroup analysis results showed that the higher the proportion of females, the stronger the correlation between SS and PA. This means that SS has a greater influence on PA for women than for men. Although women tend to perceive more barriers to exercise e.g., body image concerns, societal expectations, safety concerns than men Lee, 1993, they are more likely to affiliate with their social networks Taylor, 2002. Good social networks can provide more emotional and practical support for female students to engage in PA. Moreover, their social network or social connections among peers are more extensive than men’s, which can enhance the availability and impact of SS for PA Tifferet, 2020. This can also contribute to a stronger relationship between SS and PA among female students. Although the relationship between SS and PA in males is weaker r .10, 95 CI 0.05, 0.15, it does not mean that SS is irrelevant. Establishing malefocused support networks that align with their preferences and social dynamics e.g., creating buddy systems, group activities, or teambased exercise programs may improve PA participation among male students. In sum, fostering SS within the PA intervention might be more appropriate for female students, while male students need more targeted SS strategies or fostering other factors e.g., individual motivation and environmental considerations within the PA intervention. The moderating effects of age and region are not significant, indicating that the included study data show that there was no significant difference in the correlation between SS and PA among college and university students of different ages and regions. Limitations There are several limitations in this review. The first limitation pertains to the inconsistency in outcome measures used to assess SS and PA. Although most studies employed the international PA questionnaire 47.4 and SS for exercise habits scale 42.1, various measurement scales or their adapted versions were still applied for assessing PA and SS. These wide variabilities may lead to inaccurate data and large heterogeneity. The second limitation was that the review did not account for possible indirect effects of SS on PA. Given that some studies found that selfefficacy and perceived behavioral control mediated the relationship between SS and PA, it is possible that SS indirectly influences PA through mediating constructs. The third limitation was that the nations of the included studies were mainly limited to Western countries. More studies from Eastern regions will be needed to verify whether there are cultural differences. The fourth limitation was that all included studies were crosssectional. Therefore, the direction of the association between SS and PA cannot be determined. Higher SS could be associated with higher PA, but it is possible that higher PA is associated with higher SS. Prospective or longitudinal studies can assess associations between SS and PA over time. Future research could focus on the review of relevant prospective or longitudinal studies.