Associations between exercise motivation and self-efficacy through leisure satisfaction and psychological resilience in college students: a PLS-SEM study

Objective Growing concern has emerged regarding the mental health of young adults, particularly within university settings where academic and psychosocial pressures are prominent. Exercise motivation (EM), conceptualized within self-determination theory (SDT), especially intrinsic and identified regulation, has been associated with psychological well-being. However, the structural associations among exercise motivation (EM), leisure satisfaction (LS), psychological resilience (PR), and self-efficacy (SE) in young adults remain insufficiently clarified. Methods This cross-sectional study examined these associations in a sample of 437 university students aged 18–23 years in China. Data were collected through validated self-report instruments and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results The results indicated that exercise motivation was positively associated with leisure satisfaction (β = 0.794, p < 0.001), leisure satisfaction was positively associated with psychological resilience (β = 0.342, p < 0.001), and PR was positively associated with self-efficacy (β = 0.228, p < 0.001). Sequential mediation analysis showed that leisure satisfaction and PR jointly accounted for a significant indirect association between EM and SE (β = 0.062, p = 0.001). Model fit indices ( SRMR = 0.055; NFI = 0.847) indicated an acceptable level of fit within the prediction-oriented PLS-SEM approach. Conclusion These findings indicate that exercise motivation is statistically associated with psychological resources among young adults. Although causal inferences cannot be drawn due to the cross-sectional design, the study contributes to understanding motivational processes within the SDT framework and provides directions for future longitudinal research.