Abstract
PURPOSE: To explore the relations among personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behavior of Chinese college students. To test whether sports commitment plays an intermediary role in the process of personality traits affecting exercise behavior. To explore the factors that affect Chinese college students' exercise behavior from the psychological level, to promote college students to actively participate in physical exercise. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted on 1200 students from 6 universities using the "Personality Trait Scale", "Sports Commitment Scale" and "Exercise Behavior Scale". SPSS was used to analyze the differences between genders and urban and rural areas; and correlation analysis was conducted on the personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behaviors of college students. Finally, AMOS was used to establish a structural equation model to test the mediating role of sports commitment. RESULTS: There are significant differences between different genders in each factor of personality traits (P<0.05); there is no significant difference between different genders in the participation opportunities of sports commitment (P=0.734), and there are significant differences in other factors. There were significant differences in each factor of exercise behavior (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behavior between urban and rural students (P> 0.05). There was a significant correlation among personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behavior (P < 0.01). The direct effect of personality traits on exercise behavior was not significant (P > 0.05), but there was only the mediating effect of sports commitment. CONCLUSION: There is a significant correlation among Chinese college students' personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behavior. Sports commitment plays an intermediary role between personality traits and sports commitment. Improving the level of sports commitment can encourage Chinese college students to participate in physical exercise.