Objective To explore the influence of exercise identity on the exercise habits of college students, test the mediating effect of affective attitude and the moderating effect of exercise intention, and construct a moderated mediating effect model.

Methods With the principle of random sampling, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 563 college students (57.13% female) in Chongqing that used the self-report habit index, the exercise identity scale, the affective attitude scale and the exercise intention scale.

Results There were all significant gender differences in exercise identity (T=7.274), affective attitude (T=2.739), exercise intention (T=4.008) and exercise habits (T=6.439) among college students (P<0.01). Both exercise identity (β=0.763) and affective attitude (β=0.552) had the significant direct impacts on exercise habits (P<0.01). Moreover, the mediating effect of affective attitude on the influence of exercise identity on exercise habits was significant (P<0.01). On the path of the influence of exercise identity and affective attitude on the exercise habits of college students, exercise intention positively moderate the effect of exercise identity on affective attitude (P<0.01), namely, the moderated mediating effect was significant.

Conclusions Compared to female college students, male students have stronger exercise identity, more positive affective attitudes and exercise intentions, and are more likely to establish stable exercise habits. The exercise identity and affective attitude are promoting factors for exercise habits. Furthermore, improving the exercise identity can help enrich the positive affective attitude of college students, thereby promoting their formation of exercise habits. Relatively, a strong exercise intention is more likely to enhance the promoting effect of exercise identity on affective attitude among college students, which in turn helps them establish exercise habits.