Understanding the impact of social exclusion on exercise behavior: exploring mediating and moderating mechanisms among college students

• Social exclusion significantly reduces college students’ exercise behavior. • Social support fully mediates the link between exclusion and physical activity. • Self-esteem drops with exclusion, indirectly affecting exercise participation. • Positive campus climate and group exercise buffer exclusion’s negative impact. • Study explains 48 % of behavior variance, urging inclusive and supportive action. Social exclusion is a common topic among college and university students, and its causes exacerbate psychological distress and negative behavioral outcomes. This study investigates the prevalence of social exclusion during physical activity among college students, focusing on social support as a mediator and examining self-esteem, campus social environments, and group exercise involvement as moderators. A cross-sectional quantitative survey design was employed, collecting data through systematic sampling procedures. Surveys were delivered offline and online in a structured way to 1610 participants. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4 was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that social exclusion had a direct and negative effect on exercise behavior, β (-0.41), p < 0.001. Social support played a mediating role and was totally mediated, β (0.36), p < 0.001. Self-esteem declined as a result of social exclusion, β (-0.38), p < 0.001, and this decline caused reductions in exercise levels. Campus social climate had a direct effect on campus social climate, β (0.33), p < 0.005, and supported group climate in decreasing social exclusion effects, as well as participating in group exercise, β (0.40), p < 0.001. Overall, the model explained 48 % of the variance in exercise behavior (R² = 0.48). This study provided a new combination of psychological and behavioral constructs to explain how the process of social exclusion leads to inactivity in terms of physical activity. Social support was a mediating factor that can be implemented in school settings. This research explored how students are socially excluded from physical activity and the significant protective function of social support. Specifically, this research recommends that universities or medical health practitioners provide opportunities for interventions that work on inclusive group behaviors and build supportive university contexts for physical health initiatives alongside psychological well-being interventions.