Abstract
BACKGROUND: Many 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. METHODS: A 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). RESULTS: The 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. CONCLUSIONS: This 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. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-025-26150-1.