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• The path analysis method is proposed to explain the interplay of drivers in soil moisture drought. • Precipitation deficits dominates the interannual variation of soil moisture drought while potential evapotranspiration impacts are magnified by drought deterioration. • Atmospheric movement and temperate indirectly affects soil moisture drought through precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. • Proportion of drought explanation decreased with increasing soil depth. Soil moisture drought, as one of the most important drought categories, is determined by both water supply (e.g., precipitation) and demand (e.g., potential evapotranspiration). To shed light on the underlying mechanisms driving soil moisture drought, the statistical multiple linear regression, machine learning, and modeling experiments methods have been pervasively used in early studies. However, these methods neglect the collinearity and interactions of climate variables, and thus cannot reflect the direct and indirect interaction of factors leading to soil moisture drought. To reveal the synergistic effects of water supply and demand on soil moisture drought, this study quantified the contributions of key drivers to the change of soil moisture drought by a path analysis method to exhibit the relationships between atmospheric movement state and soil moisture drought. Prior to applying the systematic path analysis model, we identified the spatial patterns of soil moisture droughts at different depths by using a state-of-art three-dimensional drought recognition method in China. Our results showed that precipitation deficits dominated the interannual variation of soil moisture drought while increasing potential evapotranspiration only had marginal intensification in drought. The response of soil moisture drought to potential evapotranspiration was magnified by drought deterioration, especially in basically severe drought conditions. The total column water vapor and the horizontal divergence of the vapor flux, as well as temperature, directly affected precipitation and potential evapotranspiration and led to soil moisture drought through various direct and indirect processes. This study highlighted that the interactions among precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and atmospheric vapor movement state in space and time were important for understanding the drought development mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]