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

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, p