Objective This study aimed to investigate the influence of physical exercise on life satisfaction among college students. To further explore the underlying mechanisms, two mediating variables were introduced: exercise adherence and health literacy. This approach helped analyze the pathway through which physical exercise predicts and affects students’ life satisfaction. Methods A total of 12,573 valid questionnaire responses were collected from 13,042 college students in East China, as listed in the 2024 Ministry of Education announcement of ordinary colleges and universities. The established scales included in the questionnaire are the Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Exercise Adherence Scale, and the Health Literacy Scale (HLS-SF9). The data were analyzed using the chain mediation model and the bias-corrected Bootstrap method. Results Most college students (73.1%) engaged in a low level of physical exercise. Significant positive correlations were found among physical exercise, health literacy, exercise adherence, and life satisfaction (r = 0.137–0.954). After controlling for demographic variables, physical exercise negatively predicted life satisfaction directly ( β = −0.010, p 0.001). It also influenced life satisfaction through three indirect pathways. The separate mediating effect of exercise adherence was significant (effect = 0.040, 95%CI0.036,0.043). The chain mediating effect of exercise adherence and health literacy was also significant (effect = 0.014, 95%CI0.012,0.015). The separate mediating effect of health literacy was not significant. These results suggest that exercise adherence and health literacy play a partial chain mediating role between physical exercise and life satisfaction. Conclusion According to the measurements from the Satisfaction with Life Scale, physical exercise has a significant negative correlation with life satisfaction among college students. Results show that physical exercise can positively influence the life satisfaction of Chinese university students through the chain mediating effect of exercise adherence and health literacy. Future research, using larger and more diverse samples, should further investigate the effects of factors such as age, types of exercise, and duration of activity.
Cui et al. (Thu,) studied this question.