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University students are at a critical stage of professional socialization, where intense competition in the job market exposes them to considerable employment challenges and pressure. These factors often lead to negative expectations regarding future career prospects and contribute to the development of employment anxiety. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between outdoor sports education and employment anxiety using a combined longitudinal and cross-sectional design. Specifically, the research examined both the long-term effects and immediate associations of this relationship, as well as the potential mediating roles of self-management and fear of failure. A total of eight classes were selected and randomly allocated to either an intervention group (four classes) or a control group (four classes). The intervention group participated in a structured outdoor sports education program, while the control group engaged in conventional physical activities (e.g., basketball, aerobics). Employment anxiety was measured using the Future Employment Anxiety Scale, self-management was assessed with the Self-Management Questionnaire, and fear of failure was measured using the Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory. Data were analyzed using independent-samples t-tests, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and mediation analysis. Mediation effects were examined through Baron and Kenny’s causal steps approach, supplemented by 5,000 bootstrap iterations to assess the statistical significance of indirect effects. Following the intervention, students in the intervention group showed significantly lower levels of anxiety in the domains of Personal Ability, Career Replaceability, and Social Relations compared to the control group (p < .05). Conversely, they exhibited significantly higher scores across all four dimensions of self-management: Behavior Management, Emotion Management, Time Management, and Cognition Management (p < .05). Furthermore, the intervention group reported significantly lower scores on three dimensions of fear of failure—Fear of Experiencing Embarrassment, Fear of Devaluation by Others, and Fear of Others Losing Interest (p < .05). Regarding effect decomposition, outdoor sports education accounted for 28.1% of the total effect, reflecting a significant direct predictive role on employment anxiety. The indirect effect mediated by self-management contributed 26.3%, while that mediated by fear of failure explained 33.3% of the total effect. Additionally, the chain-mediated pathway involving both self-management and fear of failure accounted for 12.3% of the total effect. Outdoor sports education was associated with lower employment anxiety, enhanced self-management competencies, and reduced fear of failure among university students. Both self-management and fear of failure function as independent mediating factors in the link between outdoor sports education and employment anxiety. Furthermore, these two variables operate sequentially in a chain-mediation pathway, jointly accounting for a meaningful proportion of the overall effect. ISRCTN Registry (ISRCTN14022322). Registered on 30 March 2026. Retrospectively registered.