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Whose autonomy support is more effective in promoting exercise adherence in higher vocational college students - based on self-determined theory

成人头条 volume听25, Article听number:听395 (2025) Cite this article

Abstract

Objective

Based on the self-determination theory, the three types of autonomy support of parents, teachers and peers as a whole were included in the same research system to explore their effects on exercise adherence of higher vocational college students and their internal mechanisms.

Methods

The study used the exercise autonomy support scale, autonomous motivation scale and exercise adherence scale to construct and test the hypothesised pathways for promoting exercise adherence among students in higher vocational college. Using the data obtained from a survey of 436 higher vocational college students as the unit of analysis, and taking into account the variable of students鈥� self-determined motivation. The three types of autonomy support of parents, teachers and peers were simultaneously incorporated into the same research system to explore their effects on higher vocational college students鈥� exercise adherence and their internal mechanisms.

Results

Except for parent autonomy support, neither teacher nor peer autonomy support had a significant positive effect on exercise adherence of higher vocational college students. Unlike the role played by teacher autonomy support, neither parent nor peer autonomy support was able to positively predict exercise autonomous motivation among higher vocational college students.

Conclusion

Parent autonomy support can positively influence the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students, neither teacher nor peer autonomy support can significantly positively influence the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students. Teacher autonomy support can significantly and indirectly influence higher vocational college students鈥� exercise adherence through autonomous motivation, while parent and peer autonomy support cannot indirectly influence higher vocational college students鈥� exercise adherence through autonomous motivation.

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Background

Talent is the cornerstone of national competition, and vocational education is the key to cultivating technical talents [1]. Exercise contributes to the development of vocational education and the development of skilled manpower for the country [2]. As a means of developing academic performance [3] as well as social adaptation skills such as socialising and handling [4] exercise plays a vital role in facilitating the shaping of talent in all sectors. Studies have shown that students who participate in exercise perform better academically, possibly because exercise enhances cognitive functioning and concentration [5]. Studies by Congqing Zhu, Shengfang Shu [6] and other scholars have found that long-term regular exercise helps enhance cognitive ability and academic performance as well as obtaining long-term exercise benefits. In addition, exercise develops their social skills and ability to cope with social challenges, thus moulding well-rounded individuals from all walks of life [7]. For a long time, vocational education has often been regarded as a 鈥榣ow-cost version鈥� of general education, and misunderstanding has occurred regarding the importance of general education over vocational education. In the new era, the Party and the State hold a new perception of the strategic positioning of vocational college education; unlike undergraduate education, which trains professionals with theoretical foundation and scientific research ability, higher vocational college education aims to train applied technical talents with practical ability and technical literacy to meet the needs of production, construction, management and service lines [8]. Teachers in higher vocational colleges are obliged to carry out relevant scientific research around exercise to continuously cultivate talents adapted to the needs of the front line of production, construction, management and service whilst enhancing the social recognition of vocational education [9]. Therefore, we start from vocational college education, which has a 鈥榖road prospect and great potential鈥� take the autonomous motivation of exercise as a mediator. These steps will help us explore the influencing factors of the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students and its functioning mechanism which can provide intuitive empirical data for the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students. The latter is conducive for the teachers to provide accurate guidance for the students and for promoting the development of good exercise habits.

Exercise Adherence is the degree to which a person is able to sustain participation and maintain regularity in exercise or fitness programme [10]. Research in different fields has shown that parents, teachers and peers who demonstrate exercise support for their children, students or friends can increase the level of autonomous motivation of individuals in environmental tasks, allowing for an increase in the persistence of individual behaviours [11]. Autonomous motivation is a mediating variable that acts as a sort of volitional decision-making efficacy in the chain between an intrinsic traits and behavioural expression [12]. Self-determination theory researchers have argued that an perceived external support for autonomy can further generate autonomous motivation, which in turn influences the corresponding behavioural outcomes [13]. Self-determination theory is widely used in the field of education and can significantly enhance intrinsic motivation and academic achievement by providing autonomy-supportive teaching methods [14]. In self-determination theory, Deci and Ryan [15] viewed autonomous motivation as a continuum from unmotivated to intrinsically motivated to extrinsically motivated, with intrinsic motivation being considered the most natural and autonomous. Autonomy Support is a process or approach designed to promote autonomous decision making and action by individuals, with an emphasis on allowing individuals to feel a sense of control over their own behaviours and decision making, thereby stimulating intrinsic motivation and active participation [16]. In the field of physical education, autonomy support is an educational approach based on self-determination theory that emphasises the interests and needs of the student; the teacher provides the latter with the opportunity to make choices, thereby accelerating the development of student autonomy [16]. When a person feels autonomy support and is driven by internal motivation, he possesses a sense of voluntariness and performs that behaviour [17]. Research has shown that there is a strong relationship between autonomous motivation and individual exercise adherence [18]. Reeve [19] suggests that when students receive autonomy support, the motivational state developed towards intrinsic motivation will result in an increase in behavioural engagement effort or exercise adherence. Sheeran [20] also suggests that the support an individual receives from significant others is internalised into the internal motivation, which manifests as genuine liking and willingness to promote adherence to the behaviour. Teixeira [21] more directly stated that the autonomy of college student鈥� motivation to exercise increases when they perceive autonomy support, and that the resulting intrinsic motivation is a good predictor of exercise adherence in the long term.

Teacher-originated autonomy support on exercise is often modelled across contexts. Standage et al. [22] model explored the effects of teacher autonomy support on exercise-related outcome variables such as health-related quality of life, physical self-concept and objectively measured exercise; they subsequently concluded that student-perceived teacher autonomy support positively affects exercise outcome variables, which can effectively enhance exercise. Van den [23] concluded that teacher autonomy support as an exogenous factor can indirectly affect exercise adherence, and autonomous motivation plays an important role in this process. Kohong Yu et al. [24] suggested that teacher autonomy support has an indirect effect on students鈥� autonomous motivation through the attitude of sports behaviour and affects their exercise adherence in China. Chenglong Li [25] further examined the relationship between teacher autonomy support and college online sport learning commitment, and proposed the chain mediating role of autonomous motivation in college exercise persistence.

On the one hand, autonomy support from teachers is not the only source; nonetheless, parent and peer autonomy supports may have a greater influence than teacher autonomy support; additionally, many foreign studies believe that teacher autonomy support only occurs in the context of physical education classes; nevertheless, many studies have suggested that autonomy support from family and peers may have a significant influence on exercise behaviour [5]. Keating et al. [26] suggested that family and peer autonomy support had an effect on high-intensity exercise, total exercise and exercise adherence among college students and that peer support had a more significant effect than family support in high-intensity exercise, with autonomous motivation being an important mediator. Burton and Martins [27] suggested that students鈥� long-term exercise behaviour was driven by their motivation to exercise. Autonomy support from parents, peers and others helps enhance student intrinsic motivation and improve persistence in their ongoing exercise engagements. In China, Rui Fang [28] suggested that autonomy support from parents and peers is an antecedent that affects college student exercise adherence and stimulates college student exercise initiative. A positive correlation also exists between autonomy motivation and exercise driven by autonomy support. On the other hand, Yunfeng Li [29] explored the role of exercise goals on exercise adherence behavior of higher vocational college students and their pathway and proposed the mediating and bridging role of exercise autonomous motivation, which provides a good reference for further research on the parent and peer autonomy support to promote exercise adherence of higher vocational college students more effectively.

In summary, the existing research on support and students鈥� exercise adherence primarily focuses on the college student population in general and seldom sees targeted research with the higher vocational college student population as the research object. Moreover, the existing studies either did not distinguish the differences between the three types of autonomy support of parents, teachers and peers as a whole or selected a certain type of support from parent, teacher, and peer autonomy supports. Constrained by the conditions of the study, none of them stimultaneously included the three types of autonomy support of parents, teachers and peers into the same research system. They also did not consider the mediating effect of autonomy support after being included into the same research system. The mediating effect of autonomy support after inclusion in the same research system was also not considered.

This study fully recognises the importance of higher vocational college education and designs an exercise model based on self-determination theory, assuming that parent, teacher and peer autonomy supports affect the autonomy motivation of higher vocational college students to exercise, which in turn affects the adherence of student exercise behaviours. This study focuses on Autonomy motivation acting as an important mediator as well as the differences in the effects of autonomy support of different origins of parents, teachers and peers on the adherence to exercise. Accordingly, the following research hypotheses were formed:

Hypothesis 1

Parent autonomy support can have a positive effect on the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students.

Hypothesis 2

Teacher autonomy support can have a positive effect on the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students.

Hypothesis 3

Peer autonomy support can have a positive effect on the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students.

Hypothesis 4

Autonomous motivation acts as mediating variable in the Influence of parent Autonomy Support on higher vocational college students exercise adherence.

Hypothesis 5

Autonomous motivation acts as mediating variable in the Influence of teacher autonomy support on higher vocational college students exercise adherence.

Hypothesis 6

Autonomous motivation acts as mediating variable in the Influence of peer autonomy support on higher vocational college students exercise adherence.

Participants and methods

Participants

The analysed data originated from a sample survey of students鈥� exercise adherence in a higher vocational college in a city of Jiangsu Province. With the assistance of the physical education teachers, the survey team used a systematic sampling method to identify and distribute questionnaires to 436 students for the survey in April 2022. A total of 426 questionnaires were recovered, with a recovery rate of 97.71%, excluding 10 missing answers and invalid questionnaires; 416 valid questionnaires were obtained, and the validity rate of the questionnaires reached 97.65%. Among them, 258 were male, accounting for 62.00; 158 were female, accounting for 38.00%; the average age was (20.13鈥壜扁��0.74) years old.

Measuring tools

The English scales used in this study were translated from English to Chinese and back to English by two independent bilingual scholars to ensure the quality of the translation and to maintain equivalence of meaning.

Exercise autonomy support scale

Translation of the exercise autonomy support scale was developed by Hagger et al. [30]. The scale consists of three dimensions of peer, teacher and parent autonomy supports. Each dimension consists of 9 questions, with a total of 27 questions. These items are scored on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 to 7 points, from 鈥榗ompletely disagree鈥� to 鈥榗ompletely agree鈥�. Validity of the measurement model was assessed on the basis of the validated factor analysis (CFA) proposed by Anderson et al. [30], in which certain measures were excluded to improve the model fit of latent variables if their standardised factor loadings were less than 0.5. In this study, 14 measures of the scale were retained for subsequent structural equation modelling analysis based on this criterion, and the model fit indices were 蠂2鈥�=鈥�164.653, df鈥�=鈥�74, 蠂2/df鈥�=鈥�2.225, NFI鈥�=鈥�0.940, GFI鈥�=鈥�0.942, CFI鈥�=鈥�0.966 and RMSEA鈥�=鈥�0.057. The Cronbach鈥檚 伪 of the dimensions were 0.872, 0.887 and 0.739. In addition, the Cronbach鈥檚 伪 of the dimensions was 0.907, which indicated that the measurement model of the scale was well fitted.

Autonomous motivation scale

Translation of the autonomous motivation Scale [31] was developed by Jing Dong Liu et al. to ensure its suitability for higher vocational college students in China. The scale is a unidimensional scale consisting of 9 questions, combining the middle school physical education classroom scenario, replacing 鈥榢nowledge learned鈥� with 鈥榮port techniques and knowledge learned鈥�, and scoring each question on a 7-point Likert scale from 鈥榗ompletely disagree鈥� to 鈥榗ompletely agree鈥� on a scale of 1鈥�7. Based on the CFA test criteria mentioned above, all items were retained for the final structural equation modelling analysis in this study. The absolute values of skewness for each item ranged from 1.327 to 1.920, the absolute values of kurtosis ranged from 1.650 to 3.292 and the model fit indices were 蠂2鈥�=鈥�20.200, df鈥�=鈥�8, 蠂2/df鈥�=鈥�2.525, NFI鈥�=鈥�0.982, GFI鈥�=鈥�0.982, CFI鈥�=鈥�0.989 and RMSEA鈥�=鈥�0.063. The Cronbach鈥檚 伪 for each dimension was 0.774 and 0.873, respectively, the scale for Cronbach鈥檚 伪 was 0.856. The scores of each item were summed, and the higher the total score indicated higher autonomous motivation for exercise of the higher vocational college students.

Exercise adherence scale

The exercise adherence scale developed by Wang et al. [32] was used. The scale consists of three dimensions on behaviour, effort and emotional experience, with six questions, each of which is scored on a 7-point Likert scale, from 鈥榗ompletely disagree鈥� to 鈥榗ompletely agree鈥� on a scale of 1鈥�7. Based on the CFA test criteria mentioned above, four questions were retained for the final structural equation modelling analysis in this study, with the absolute values of skewness of each question item ranging from 0.547 to 0.827. The absolute values of kurtosis range from 0.103 to 0.633, and the model fit indices of 蠂2鈥�=鈥�5.195, df鈥�=鈥�2,蠂2/df鈥�=鈥�2.597, NFI鈥�=鈥�0.992, GFI鈥�=鈥�0.993, CFI鈥�=鈥�0.995 and RMSEA鈥�=鈥�0.065; the total scale Cronbach鈥檚 伪 was 0.850. The scores for each question item were summed, and higher total scores indicated higher exercise adherence among vocational college students.

Data analysis

Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses of the different latent variables were carried out in this study using SPSS. AMOS software was used to construct the model and test the model fit indices and to determine the total, direct and indirect effects, which were estimated using bias-corrected Bootstrap estimation with 95% confidence intervals (self-sampling number N鈥�=鈥�2000). In this case, if the path coefficients do not contain 0 within the confidence interval (usually a 95% confidence interval is used), it means that the total, direct or indirect effects are statistically significant.

Results and analysis

Common methodology bias test

Harman鈥檚 one-factor method was used to test for common method bias, and non-rotated principal component factor analysis was performed on all question items. The results showed that five factors had initial eigenvalues greater than 1; additionally, the first factor explained 32.24% of the variance, which was below the critical value of 40%. Common method bias was not serious in this study [33].

Descriptive statistics and correlation between variables

As shown in Table听1, exercise adherence was all significantly and positively correlated with parent autonomy support, peer autonomy support, teacher autonomy support and autonomous motivation. Autonomous motivation was significantly and positively correlated with parent, peer and teacher autonomy supports. The three were also both significantly and positively correlated. The level of correlation between the five variables suggests that further statistical analysis is appropriate.

Table 1 Social support, autonomous motivation, exercise adherence and correlation analysis table
Full size table

Structural equation modelling

When applying SEM as a validation of theoretical models, a good model fit is a necessary condition for SEM analysis, and a good fit means that the model matrix is closer to the sample matrix. In this study, structural equation modelling was constructed using parent, peer and teacher autonomy supports as antecedent variables, autonomous motivation as mediator variable and student exercise adherence as outcome variable (see Fig.听1 below). As can be seen in Fig.听1, the model fit indices were蠂2鈥�=鈥�463.646, df鈥�=鈥�240, 蠂2 /df鈥�=鈥�1.932, NFI鈥�=鈥�0.907, GFI鈥�=鈥�0.911, CFI鈥�=鈥�0.953 and RMSEA鈥�=鈥�0.050, indicating that the results of structural equation data fit well.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Structural equation model

Full size image

As can be seen from the model path coefficients in Table听2 below, within the same research system, this study examined the role of parent, teacher and peer autonomy supports in influencing exercise adherence among higher vocational college students as well as the mediating role of student autonomous motivation.

Table 2 Goodness of fit of the study model and its criteria
Full size table

The results are shown in Fig.听1; parent autonomy support can significantly influence higher vocational college students鈥� exercise adherence (尾鈥�=鈥�0.262, p鈥�<鈥�0.01); teacher autonomy support cannot significantly influence higher vocational college students鈥� exercise adherence (尾鈥�=鈥�0. 110, p鈥�>鈥�0. 05); peer autonomy support cannot significantly influence higher vocational college students鈥� exercise adherence (尾 = 鈭�0.138, p鈥�>鈥�0. 05); parent autonomy support could not significantly influence higher vocational college students鈥� autonomous motivation (尾鈥�=鈥�0.006, p鈥�>鈥�0. 05); teacher autonomy support could significantly and positively influence higher vocational college students鈥� autonomous motivation (尾鈥�=鈥�0.210, p鈥�<鈥�0.05); peer autonomy support could not significantly influence higher vocational college students鈥� autonomous motivation (尾鈥�=鈥�0.144, p鈥�>鈥�0.05); and higher vocational college students鈥� autonomous motivation could significantly influence their exercise adherence (尾鈥�=鈥�0.568, p鈥�<鈥�0. 001). The above results show that except for H2, H1 and H3 were not tested.

Indirect effects

As can be seen in Table听3, firstly, the indirect effect of parent autonomy support on exercise adherence through autonomous motivation was non-significant (e.g., 95% CI [鈭掆��0.157, 0.186]), thus lacking support for Hypothesis 1; secondly, the indirect effect of peer autonomy support on exercise adherence through autonomous motivation was non-significant (e.g., 95% CI [鈭掆��0.040, 0.321]), thereby not supporting Hypothesis 1; finally, the indirect effect of teacher autonomy support on exercise adherence through autonomous motivation was significant (e.g., 95% CI [0.040, 0.450]), thus supporting Hypothesis 4. Furthermore, the direct effect of teacher autonomy support on exercise adherence was non-significant (e.g., 95% CI [鈭掆��0.074, 0.441]) suggesting that autonomous motivation fully mediates the relationship between teacher autonomy support and exercise adherence among higher vocational college students. Its indirect effect was 0.203, accounting for 52.05 per cent of the total effect.

Table 3 Total, direct and indirect effects of parent, peer and teacher autonomy supports on exercise adherence in higher vocational college students
Full size table

Discussion

Analysis of the relationship between parent, teacher and peer autonomy supports and exercise adherence among higher vocational college students

The present study found that when other factors were not considered, parent, teacher and peer autonomy supports in the social support of higher vocational college students were positively correlated with their exercise adherence, which is consistent with the findings of Wen Lu et al. [34], Xiaoqing Hu et al. [35], Ting Zhang [36] and Xinyu Chu et al. [37]. If we put these three types of autonomy supports in a dynamic system to study the effects of these elements on the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students, we found the following: except for parent autonomy support, teacher and peer autonomy supports lacked a significant positive effect on the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students (see Table听1), which indicates that parent autonomy support is better than teacher and peer autonomy supports on the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students [38]. Similar findings were found in the team鈥檚 related study [39].

Two possible reasons exist for this phenomenon. On the one hand, parent autonomy support that incorporates scientific and rational monitoring can help students get through the basic psychological frustrations they face in exercise and can effectively increase their individual growth initiatives, which in turn can lead to the practical implementation and execution of their future exercise plans. On the other hand, the leadership of teacher on students鈥� behaviour is very important but does not necessarily reinforce exercise awareness. Students鈥� exercise is basically carried out in school, and the higher vocational college level also follows this educational characteristic. During this period, physical education teachers are often even directly involved in students鈥� exercise, which was also confirmed in the interviews with students. However, the phenomenon of emphasising skills over ideas in school sports is widespread, and students learn skills but fail to produce the psychological effect of respecting teachers. Therefore, at the stage of higher vocational college education, compared with the influence of parents and peers on students鈥� exercise behaviour, the role of teachers is more reflected in the exercise technique level than the ideological state and behavioural habits, which inevitably affect the exercise adherence that combines both technique and individual subjective initiative.

Exploring the mediating role of students鈥� autonomous motivation to exercise

Autonomous support from parents, teachers, peers and others all contain both emotional and substantive dimensions [40]. Positive words, encouraging expressions and other behaviours belong to affective support, and the behaviour of guiding or helping students to solve practical difficulties in life and learning belongs to substantive support. Whether it is affective or substantive support, individuals generally usually understand verbal persuasion, emotional arousal, their own successes, and alternative experiences of others as the four ways to improve students鈥� self-efficacy. The present study directly affirmed the facilitating role of teacher autonomy support in the generation of students鈥� exercise autonomous motivation. This finding is different from role of teacher autonomy support in the generation of students鈥� exercise autonomous motivation. Meaning, in marked contrast to the effectiveness of teacher autonomy, neither parent autonomy nor peer autonomy could indirectly influence students鈥� exercise input through the mediating effect of higher vocational education students鈥� exercise autonomous motivation. This finding was confirmed in the subsequent mediating effect analyses.

According to the basic logic of generating exercise adherence, the process of teachers guiding students鈥� exercise commitment through the mediating role of students鈥� self-efficacy is typically divided into two steps. The first step is to increase the level of students鈥� exercise autonomous motivation. Teachers help students who are inert in daily exercise to solve the difficulties encountered in exercise through persuasion, advice, counselling and so on. Therefore, teacher autonomy support plays a short-term emotional arousal role and urges students to continuously improve the level of autonomous motivation for exercise. Secondly, it maintains the level of students鈥� continuous commitment to exercise. Even autonomous motivation established under the guidance of teachers will convince students of their capability to solve the difficulties in the process of exercise and will ultimately achieve success in exercise. Accordingly, they will intermittently adopt exercise strategies under the intermittent effect of external forces to solve the difficulties encountered in the process of exercise and put extra time and energy into accomplishing the learning tasks.

Limitations

The present study answers the vexing daily exercise question of whose autonomy support is more effective in promoting exercise adherence among higher vocational college students. However, the current study still needs further improvement as shown in the following. Firstly, this study only explored how the supportive roles of parents, teachers and peers, among others, affect the mechanism of generating autonomous motivation in the process of exercise for higher vocational college students. In real life, apart from social support factors such as parents, teachers and peers, multiple variables simultaneously act as mediating effects in the complex mechanisms that shape students鈥� exercise adherence [41]. Therefore, in subsequent studies, other mediating variables need to be included in the model to reveal the complex process by which the three types of autonomy support affect higher vocational college students鈥� exercise adherence. Secondly, the effects of supportive factors such as parents, teachers and peers on students鈥� autonomous motivation to exercise may vary across different stages of learning. This study only takes students鈥� exercise in the higher vocational college education stage as a sample and does not compare the social support elements and their effects in elementary, middle and high school. Thirdly, difference exists in exercise adherence among higher vocational college students in different regions. A significant imbalance exists in economic and social development between the eastern and western regions of China, and such regional differences have a certain impact on the distribution of educational resources. Therefore, increasing the sample size of the follow-up study is necessary to obtain better accuracy in revealing the effects of the three types of autonomy support on the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students. Fourthly, China lacks a scale that considers the autonomy support of parents, teachers and peers. Accordingly, this study can only draw on the scales of related foreign studies. Owing to the differences between Chinese and foreign cultures, some of the questions in the scale inevitably cannot be applied in China. Moreover, fully considering the current situation of education in different countries remains necessary in future research. Finally, the questionnaire does not fully reflect the participants鈥� objective exercise adherence but only their subjective tendency or intention to exercise adherence. Therefore, the effects of the three types of autonomy support on the exercise adherence of higher vocational college students need comprehensive examination in subsequent studies with reference to the changes in participants鈥� exercise function. Therefore, subsequent studies must compare the effects of parent, teacher and peer autonomy supports on students鈥� exercise adherence at different stages of learning to achieve the following: explore the characteristics of their exercise adherence and the factors influencing them, clarify the important laws of the students鈥� exercise support system and then provide scientific theoretical support for the systematic formation of students鈥� exercise adherence.

Conclusions

The main practical implication of this study is that teacher autonomy support is more effective than parent and peer autonomy supports in enhancing autonomous motivation of higher vocational college students to engage in daily exercise. In other words, enhancing the level and extent of teacher autonomy support is the key to increasing students鈥� exercise autonomy and engagement in their daily exercise routines. The reason for this is twofold. On the one hand, immediate feedback can both fulfill students鈥� requirements for completing their studies whilst alleviating the stress of learning. Teachers can recognise students鈥� progress through non-verbal emotional expressions and positive verbal encouragement in their daily work at school, which can make them feel understood, cared for and respected by teachers. On the other hand, teachers are more capable of respecting students鈥� individual differences and meeting their different learning needs than other social support groups. On the basis of understanding the differences in students鈥� thinking quality and knowledge background, they are guided to put forward their own views on exercise in their relatively free space, which helps them actively invest additional time and energy in the exercise process. Attention should also be paid to the role of parent and peer autonomy supports for higher vocational college students. Although this study did not find their contribution to higher vocational college students鈥� autonomous motivation to exercise in the same system, but they still have important significance for higher vocational college students鈥� exercise. Moreover, we still need to utilise the function of autonomy support from parents as well as from peers in exercise.

Data availability

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this aticle can be made available by the authors Jie Yan(ty214798530@163.com), without undue reservation.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the participants and their universities for the cooperation and participation in this study.

Funding

This study was supported by National Social Science Fund Project 鈥淩esearch on the Implementation Path of Precise Supply of Rural Public Sports Services in China鈥� (Project No. 19BTY095).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jie Yan and Ting Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The school of Marxism, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Jie Yan听&听Xuezheng Zhou

  2. Physical Education College, Jiangxi Normal University, No.437, West Beijing Road, Nanchang, 330027, China

    Ting Zhang

  3. Physical Education Department, Jiangsu Urban and Rural Construction Vocational College, Changzhou, 213147, China

    Jie Yan

  4. Faculty of Physical Education and Health, Lin yi University, Lin yi, 276006, China

    Hongbo Li

Authors
  1. Jie Yan

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  2. Ting Zhang

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  3. Xuezheng Zhou

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  4. Hongbo Li

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Contributions

T, Conceptualization, Data curation; Z, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology; Y, Writing鈥攐riginal draft, Formal analysis, Supervision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xuezheng Zhou.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of Beijing Sport University. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participant鈥檚 legal guardian/next of kin.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Yan, J., Zhang, T., Zhou, X. et al. Whose autonomy support is more effective in promoting exercise adherence in higher vocational college students - based on self-determined theory. 成人头条 25, 395 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21587-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21587-w

Keywords

成人头条

ISSN: 1471-2458

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