Objective To investigate the status of health promoting lifestyles in nursing students , and to analyze its influencing factors .Methods Three hundred and seventeen nursing students were chosen according to cluster sampling method , and the cross-sectional study was carried out through the health promoting lifestyle profileⅡ( HPLPⅡ) and self-esteem scale .Results The average score of all items of health promoting lifestyle was (2.33 ±0.32), and the highest score was (2.63 ±0.29) (self-realization), and the lowest score was (2.04 ±0.33) (exercise).The difference was found in the health promoting lifestyles in different nursing students including different age , grade, living conditions and school satisfaction (P<0.05).The average score of self-esteem was (22.91 ±4.20), and the correlation analysis showed that the score of health promoting lifestyle was positively correlated with self-esteem (r =0.517, P<0.05).The major influencing factors of health promoting lifestyle were respectively self-esteem, school satisfaction and age , which can explain 19.7%of the variance in health promoting lifestyles .Conclusions Self-esteem may be an important factor of health promoting lifestyles in nursing students , and the improvement of self-esteem can help them to take positive health promoting lifestyle .