The influence of exercise identity on college students' perceived social self-efficacy: chain mediating effect test

A stronger exercise identity is associated with higher perceived social self-efficacy among college students, both directly and through the mediating roles of emotion regulation and autonomous motivation for physical activity. Emotion regulation facilitates higher-quality motivation, which in turn enhances social confidence, forming a positive psychological pathway from exercise identity to social adaptation. These findings underscore the value of promoting exercise identity and emotion regulation skills to support college student's psychosocial wellbeing and adaptive functioning.