Healthy lifestyle mediates the association between health locus of control and life satisfaction among college students in Hubei, China: during the normalization stage of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have primarily focused on the relationships among the health locus of control (HLC), healthy lifestyle and life satisfaction of college students. However, little is known about the mediating mechanism of healthy lifestyle on the other two aspects. This study aims to address this issue. METHODS: A total of 2394 students from six colleges in Hubei Province validly completed self-report questionnaires, including the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Healthy Lifestyle Questionnaire for college students and Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale (MHLC), which covered three dimensions: internal HLC, powerful others HLC and chance HLC. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyses the hypothesized relationships in the path model, and a mediation analysis was used to verify the indirect relationships. RESULTS: Healthy lifestyle and life satisfaction showed positive relations with both internal HLC and powerful others HLC, but a significant negative association with chance HLC. In addition, healthy lifestyle mediated the relationships of internal HLC, powerful others HLC and chance HLC with life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy lifestyle mediates the impact of HLC on life satisfaction. Students with high IHLC tend to develop a healthier lifestyle and have higher LS. Powerful others also exert positive effects in collectivist cultural backgrounds. Thus, colleges should give full play to the positive role of psychological health and physical education courses in improving students’ IHLC. Meanwhile, the positive guiding effect of powerful others should be stressed. Further, particular emphasis should also be placed on the peer influence, new media publicity functions, community intervention, and college systematic appraisal, especially during and after public health emergencies. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13690-023-01145-9.