ArticleBMC public health2026
Comprehensive network model of exercise behavior among Chinese university students: analysis of personality, emotion, and motivation.
Article in BMC public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Relationship Between Physical Activity, Emotional Regulation, Psychological Stress, and Mood Among College Students: A Network Analysis Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Autonomy support in physical education and university students' physical activity: indirect and conditional associations through motivation and environmental support.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundMany previous studies have explored the facilitators and barriers to exercise behavior. However, no study to date has systematically examined the interactions among psychological variables and their potential direct or indirect links to exercise behavior within an integrated model. This study employed a cross-sectional design with network analysis to investigate the complex relationships between personality traits, emotions, and motivations, identifying distal, proximal, and mediating factors associated with exercise behavior among Chinese university students.
methodsA total of 6,072 university students (51.2% male; mean age = 20.22 years, SD = 1.68) from 12 provinces in China completed an online survey between October and December 2024 Participants reported demographic characteristics, exercise behavior, personality traits, affect, motivation, self-regulation, and emotion regulation strategies. Exercise behavior was assessed by average weekly duration of moderate-to-vigorous activity. Data were analyzed using Spearman correlations with Benjamini–Hochberg correction and network analysis (EBICglasso).
resultsThe weekly MVPA was 135.21 min, below the World Health Organization’s recommended threshold of 150 min. Network analysis identified proximal factors directly associated with exercise behavior, including academic motivation, appearance motivation, health motivation, ability motivation, economic motivation, honor motivation, negative affect, impulsivity (BBIS), positive affect, agreeableness, self-esteem, and self-control (BSCS). Distal factors, such as enjoyment motivation, social motivation, conformity motivation, difficulties in emotion regulation (DERS-16), stress, anxiety, depression, and openness, showed weaker or indirect associations. Mediating factors, including neuroticism, conscientiousness, suppression, and reappraisal, may regulate exercise engagement by being linked to proximal variables.The weekly MVPA node showed a predictability of R² = 0.055 (5.5%), indicating the proportion of variance in exercise behavior explained by the network.
conclusionsThis large cross-sectional study suggests that multiple psychological and personality factors play differential roles in their relationships with exercise behavior.The findings may provide a preliminary theoretical basis for developing tailored exercise interventions, though causal inferences are limited by the cross-sectional design. Future longitudinal research is needed to clarify the dynamic interactions among these factors and their implications for intervention.
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