College students' hope, body-esteem, motivation, and participation in exercise.

While many are aware of the benefits of exercise, there has been a decline in participation across all ages, with dramatic declines during adolescence/young adulthood. This study aimed to determine whether hope, body-esteem, and motivation to exercise contribute to exercise behavior among college students. : Undergraduates ( = 104) were recruited through the psychology research pool and athletic department. : Participants completed a set of questionnaires measuring hope, motivation, body-esteem, and participation in exercise. : We performed a hierarchical regression to determine whether hope predicted exercise above the influence of motivation, body-esteem, and demographic factors. Our analysis revealed a significant model predicting exercise with hope and participation in collegiate athletics as significant predictors. : The combination of health/enjoyment motivation, participation in collegiate athletics, body-esteem, and hope predicts exercise behavior among college students. Identifying that hope played a significant role is an intriguing finding and warrants continued research on hope in health.