Perceived support from AI health tools and exercise adherence among university students: a three-wave study of exercise self-efficacy and autonomous motivation.

Yuchao Lu, Ruihong Tang, Baijie Zeng, Jiazeng Sun, Shaoheng Liang, Degui Fu

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Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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6 authors.

Yuchao Lu *The Affiliated Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Ruihong Tang *Hunan First Normal University, Changsha, China.

Baijie ZengDepartment of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, United States.

Jiazeng SunThe Affiliated Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Shaoheng LiangGuangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.

Degui FuThe Affiliated Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Maintaining regular exercise is challenging for many university students, and AI-enabled health tools are increasingly used to provide individualized exercise guidance and support. This study examined whether perceived exercise support from AI health tools was prospectively associated with later exercise adherence and whether exercise self-efficacy and autonomous motivation were involved in this association. A three-wave survey was conducted among 438 university students in China who were existing users of AI health tools with exercise-support functions. Perceived AI exercise support and baseline exercise adherence were assessed at T1, exercise self-efficacy at T2, and autonomous motivation and exercise adherence at T3. Structural equation modeling with bias-corrected bootstrap procedures was used, with baseline exercise adherence and relevant covariates controlled. Perceived AI exercise support at T1 was positively associated with exercise self-efficacy at T2 (β =0.36,

Indexed as

artificial intelligence health toolsexercise adherenceexercise self-efficacyperceived exercise supportuniversity students

Identifiers

PMID42935799

DOI10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1872095

PMCPMC13696255

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.