Measuring leadership in sport: Development and validation of the Identity Leadership Inventory - Youth (ILI-Y).

The social identity approach to leadership posits that leaders' effectiveness depends on their ability to represent, advance, create, and embed a shared sense of social identity among their followers. Although significant progress has been made in investigating the benefits of identity leadership in adult sports, research in youth sports is still in its infancy. One reason is the lack of a youth-centric inventory that adequately measures identity leadership in this population. To bridge this gap, we developed and validated a long (16 items) and short (5 items) version of the Identity Leadership Inventory for Youth Sport (ILI-Y or ILI-Y-Short-Form) through five studies conducted in three phases of research. Data were primarily collected in football in the United Kingdom, involving a total of 1096 participants. Results of Phase I of this study provided little to no evidence that the ILI - originally developed for adults - was understandable (Study 1) and had factor validity and internal consistency (Study 2) in a sample of youth athletes. Therefore, in Phase II, the ILI was revised, leading to the development of the ILI-Y, which was understandable for youth athletes (Study 3). Results from Phase II (Study 4) also indicated that the ILI-Y exhibited a unidimensional factor structure, which was subsequently confirmed in Phase III (Study 5). This last phase offered additional evidence for the discriminant, criterion, and incremental validity of the ILI-Y and its short form, along with their measurement invariance across genders and age groups, and internal consistency. This study provides sports psychology researchers and practitioners with a valid measure to assess identity leadership in youth sports.

Recreational Football Training Increases Leg-Extensor Velocity Production in 55- To 70-Year Old Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

This study investigated the effects of 10 weeks of recreational football training on the leg-extensor force-velocity (F-V) profile in 55- to 70-year-old adults. Simultaneous effects on functional capacity, body composition and endurance exercise capacity were examined. Forty participants (age 63.5 ± 3.9 years; 36♂ 4♀) were randomized in a football training (FOOT, n = 20) and a control (CON, n = 20) group. FOOT performed 45-min to 1-h of football training sessions with small-sided games twice a week. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were performed. The results revealed a greater increase in maximal velocity (d = 0.62, pint = 0.043) in FOOT compared to CON. No interaction effects were found for maximal power and force (pint > 0.05). 10-m fast walk improved more (d = 1.39, pint < 0.001), 3-step stair ascent power (d = 0.73, pint = 0.053) and body fat percentage (d = 0.61, pint = 0.083) tended to improve more in FOOT than in CON. RPE and HR values at the highest speed level during a submaximal graded treadmill test decreased more in FOOT compared to CON (RPE: d = 0.96, pint = 0.005; HR: d = 1.07, pint = 0.004). Both the number of accelerations and decelerations as well as the distance spent in moderate- and high-speed zones increased markedly throughout the 10-week period (p < 0.05). Participants perceived the sessions as very enjoyable and feasible. In conclusion, recreational football training resulted in improved leg-extensor velocity production, which translated to a better performance on functional capacity tests that rely on a high execution velocity. Simultaneously, exercise tolerance was improved and body fat percentage tended to reduce. It appears that short-term recreational football training can induce broad-spectrum health benefits in 55- to 70-year-old adults with only 2 hours of training per week.

Persuasive packaging? The impact of packaging color and claims on young consumers' perceptions of product healthiness, sustainability and tastiness.

Following the increasing importance of healthiness and sustainability for many consumers, manufacturers increasingly try to give products a healthier or eco-friendlier image, for instance through packaging design. We conducted two experiments to investigate how visual (i.e., colors) and textual (i.e., claims) packaging elements shape perceptions of product healthiness, sustainability and tastiness. Additionally, the studies investigated whether these packaging elements impact the likelihood that these products are selected in a choice task. Study 1 (N = 202) had a mixed design, with packaging color (warm versus cool) and a nutrition claim (present versus absent) as within-subjects manipulations. Young consumers chose between four beverages, and subsequently evaluated these beverages. Study 2 (N = 211) had a similar design and procedure, but focused on the impact of an ecological claim on the evaluation of snacks. In line with our hypotheses, cool packaging colors (i.e., green and blue) increased perceptions that food and drinks were healthy and sustainable. However, in Study 1, cool packaging colors also resulted in lower tastiness expectations, and a lower likelihood that the product was selected. We also found that a simple nutrition/ecological claim made products seem overall healthier and more sustainable. Additionally, contrary to many previous studies, we did not find that these claims affected taste expectations. Our studies highlight the importance of package design as a factor that can influence perceptions of food and drink products.

The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work Outcomes.

Most leadership studies primarily focus on formal leaders, often overlooking the influence of leaders within the team. While prior research has shown that peer leaders can have a beneficial impact on various team outcomes, it is yet unclear which peer leadership behaviors precisely foster a supportive and sustainable work environment. Building upon the recent identification of 10 peer leadership roles and 37 underlying functions, the current study aims to investigate the relationships between these peer leadership roles and functions and key outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, team cohesion, team effectiveness, and OCB). A total of 31 organizational teams, comprising 182 employees from diverse sectors, participated in a quantitative survey. Employing multilevel modeling analysis, the findings demonstrated that each leadership role and nearly every function predicted at least one outcome, highlighting their significance within organizational teams. Additionally, Necessary Condition Analysis revealed that specific roles and functions were necessary for generating one or more outcomes. Finally, we found that most of the significant relationships remained consistent across teams, regardless of their size, tenure, or level of team identification. These findings refine our understanding of shared leadership and how peer leaders can create a sustainable workplace by fostering employee well-being and productivity in organizational teams.

Socioeconomic Differences in Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior During the Retirement Transition: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies.

BACKGROUND: The retirement transition constitutes both a risk and an opportunity for changes in physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB). The present systematic review aims to summarize the current evidence regarding the differences between socioeconomic status (SES) groups in changes in PA and SB across the retirement transition. METHODS: The authors searched 5 databases. Inclusion criteria were: investigating statutory retirement, measuring PA and/or SB at least once before and once after retirement, and reporting information on SES differences. Results are reported by means of a narrative synthesis, combined with harvest plots based on direction of effect. RESULTS: We included 24 papers from 19 studies. Sixteen papers focused on PA, 3 on SB, and 5 investigated both. For total PA, occupational PA, and total sedentary time, nearly all publications reported more favorable changes for high SES groups. For recreational PA, active transport, and screen time, there seemed to be a tendency toward more favorable changes for high SES groups. Changes in household/caregiving PA did not appear to differ between SES groups. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in movement behavior during the retirement transition are potentially more favorable for high SES adults. Nonetheless, the differences between SES groups seem to depend on the domain of movement behavior.

Leading the way together: a cluster randomised controlled trial of the 5R Shared Leadership Program in older adult walking groups.

BACKGROUND: With a rapidly ageing society, healthy ageing has become a key challenge. Engagement in physical activity, and particularly walking, is a key strategy that contributes to healthy ageing amongst older adults. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a group walking program for older adults that incorporates the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS). By implementing a structure of shared leadership and strengthening peer leaders' identity leadership, 5RS aims to cultivate a shared social identity amongst participants, which has in other contexts been associated with greater performance and well-being. METHODS: A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted to test the efficacy of the 5RS group walking program on group identification, group cohesion, walking activity, and well-being, compared to a regular group walking program for older adults. Nineteen older adult walking groups (i.e., the clusters; N = 503; Mage = 69.23 years, SD = 6.68) all participated in a 12-week structured group walking program. Nine walking groups (n = 304) were randomly assigned to the intervention in which participants received the 5RS program in addition to regular group walking. RESULTS: 5RS was successful in strengthening the identity leadership qualities of the appointed peer leaders. Multilevel regressions showed that 5RS succeeded in increasing group cohesion and walking activity to a greater extent than a regular group walking program, while participants' group identification and well-being increased to a similar extent in both conditions. Furthermore, structural equation modelling revealed that group identification mediated the impact of peer leaders' identity leadership on group cohesion and well-being (but not walking activity). CONCLUSION: By harnessing the capacity of the group and its peer leaders, the 5RS program offers a promising intervention to engage older adults in physical activity. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was retrospectively registered as clinical trial on 9 September 2021 ( NCT05038423 ).

Unlocking the power of 'us': Longitudinal evidence that identity leadership predicts team functioning and athlete well-being.

The social identity approach has become an important framework for understanding effective leadership. The present study is the first to longitudinally examine the relative impact of coaches' and athlete leaders' identity leadership on athletes' identification with their team, as well as the subsequent relationships with key team and individual outcomes. To investigate these research questions, 18 sport teams (N = 279) completed a questionnaire early and late in their season competition. To analyse these data, we conducted structural equation modelling and controlled both for baseline values and the nested structure of our data. Results revealed that it was mainly the identity leadership of athlete leaders (and not of the coach) early in the season that predicted athletes' team identification later in the season. This increased team identification in turn fed into both team outcomes (i.e., task climate, team resilience, team performance) and individual outcomes (i.e., well-being, burnout, and individual performance). The mediating role of team identification suggests that by building a shared sense of 'we', athlete leaders can improve the team's effectiveness and enhance athletes' well-being. Accordingly, we conclude that empowering athlete leaders and strengthening their identity leadership skills is an important way to unlock sport teams' full potential.

Equity-specific effects of interventions to promote physical activity among middle-aged and older adults: results from applying a novel equity-specific re-analysis strategy.

BACKGROUND: Reducing inequalities in physical activity (PA) and PA-associated health outcomes is a priority for public health. Interventions to promote PA may reduce inequalities, but may also unintentionally increase them. Thus, there is a need to analyze equity-specific intervention effects. However, the potential for analyzing equity-specific effects of PA interventions has not yet been sufficiently exploited. The aim of this study was to set out a novel equity-specific re-analysis strategy tried out in an international interdisciplinary collaboration. METHODS: The re-analysis strategy comprised harmonizing choice and definition of outcomes, exposures, socio-demographic indicators, and statistical analysis strategies across studies, as well as synthesizing results. It was applied in a collaboration of a convenience sample of eight European PA intervention studies in adults aged ≥45 years. Weekly minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA was harmonized as outcome. Any versus no intervention was harmonized as exposure. Gender, education, income, area deprivation, and marital status were harmonized as socio-demographic indicators. Interactions between the intervention and socio-demographic indicators on moderate-to-vigorous PA were analyzed using multivariable linear regression and random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS: The collaborative experience shows that the novel re-analysis strategy can be applied to investigate equity-specific effects of existing PA interventions. Across our convenience sample of studies, no consistent pattern of equity-specific intervention effects was found. Pooled estimates suggested that intervention effects did not differ by gender, education, income, area deprivation, and marital status. CONCLUSIONS: To exploit the potential for equity-specific effect analysis, we encourage future studies to apply the strategy to representative samples of existing study data. Ensuring sufficient representation of 'hard to reach' groups such as the most disadvantaged in study samples is of particular importance. This will help to extend the limited evidence required for the design and prioritization of future interventions that are most likely to reduce health inequalities.

Does Fair Coach Behavior Predict the Quality of Athlete Leadership Among Belgian Volleyball and Basketball Players: The Vital Role of Team Identification and Task Cohesion.

A vast stream of empirical work has revealed that coach and athlete leadership are important determinants of sport teams' functioning and performance. Although coaches have a direct impact on individual and team outcomes, they should also strive to stimulate athletes to take up leadership roles in a qualitative manner. Yet, the relation between coach leadership behavior and the extent of high-quality athlete leadership within teams remains underexposed. Based on organizational justice theory and the social identity approach, the present research tested whether perceived justice of the coach positively predicts the quality of athlete leadership. Furthermore, we examined the role of group dynamic processes (i.e., team identification and task cohesion) within this relation. Belgian volleyball (N = 161) and basketball players (N = 78) were asked to rate the justice of their coach, their team identification, the task cohesion, and the athlete leadership quality in the team. Structural equation modeling indicated that coaches' perceived justice positively predicted the quality of athletes' leadership, and that this relation was established through three intermediate steps (i.e., from team identification to task cohesion, to athlete leadership quality). These results suggest that fair coach behavior does not only bridge the gap between leadership and followership, it also has the potential to improve the quality of athletes' leadership within sport teams. More specifically, findings suggest that coaches' perceived justice cultivates a shared social identity characterized by high levels of players' identification with their team, which in turn increased their perceptions of the team's task cohesion. Finally, this increased task cohesion encouraged the athlete leaders to demonstrate high-quality leadership.

Will the real leaders please stand up? The emergence of shared leadership in semi-professional soccer teams.

OBJECTIVES: High-quality leadership is often regarded as one of the main sources of competitive advantage. Especially within sport teams, a team's leadership structure has historically been considered to be stable across the season, with the coach and team captain as the formal, and often sole, leaders. In line with recent organizational research, the present study aims to broaden this perspective by also taking informal leaders into account and exploring how leadership structures among athletes within sport teams evolve over the course of a season. DESIGN: Using social network analysis, we analyzed the leadership structure of 20 semi-professional soccer teams (N=460 players, Mage=23.50 years; SD=4.55) at the start of the season and then again halfway through the season. More specifically, for each team we constructed a leadership network for four leadership roles (task, motivational, social, and external leadership) at these two time points. RESULTS: Findings suggest that leadership structures in sport teams can change considerably over the course of the competitive season, thereby challenging the classic view of stable, vertical leadership structures. The transition to more shared forms of leadership can be attributed to the emergence of informal leaders over time as players engage more strongly in leadership roles. Furthermore, our results suggest that as teams evolve towards shared leadership their functioning and performance benefits from these changes. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these findings, we recommend that coaches actively implement a structure of shared leadership and seek to develop the leadership qualities of formal and informal athlete leaders.

The Power of Empowerment: Predictors and Benefits of Shared Leadership in Organizations.

Leadership plays an essential part in creating competitive advantage and well-being among employees. One way in which formal leaders can deal with the variety of responsibilities that comes with their role is to share their responsibilities with team members (i.e., shared leadership). Although there is abundant literature on how high-quality peer leadership benefits team effectiveness (TE) and well-being, there is only limited evidence about the underpinning mechanisms of these relationships and how the formal leader can support this process. To address this lacuna, we conducted an online survey study with 146 employees from various organizations. The results suggest that an empowering leadership style of the formal leader is associated with higher perceived peer leadership quality (PLQ) on four different leadership roles (i.e., task, motivational, social, and external leader). In addition, formal leaders who empower their team members are also perceived as better leaders themselves. Moreover, the improved PLQ was in turn positively related to TE and work satisfaction, while being negatively related to burnout. In line with the social identity approach, we found that team identification mediated these relationships. Thus, high-quality peer leaders succeeded in creating a shared sense of "us" in the team, and this team identification in turn generated all the positive outcomes. To conclude, by sharing their lead and empowering the peer leaders in their team, formal leaders are key drivers of the team's effectiveness, while also enhancing team members' health and well-being.

Are Reallocations between Sedentary Behaviour and Physical Activity Associated with Better Sleep in Adults Aged 55+ Years? An Isotemporal Substitution Analysis.

Physical activity has been proposed as an effective alternative treatment option for the increasing occurrence of sleep problems in older adults. Although higher physical activity levels are associated with better sleep, the association between specific physical activity intensities and sedentary behaviour (SB) with sleep remains unclear. This study examines the associations of statistically modelled time reallocations between sedentary time and different physical activity intensities with sleep outcomes using isotemporal substitution analysis. Device-measured physical activity data and both objective and subjective sleep data were collected from 439 adults aged 55+ years. Replacing 30 min of SB with moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) was significantly associated with an increased number of awakenings. Moreover, a reallocation of 30 min between light physical activity (LPA) and MVPA was significantly associated with increased sleep efficiency. Furthermore, reallocating 30 min of SB to LPA showed a significant association with decreased sleep efficiency. There were no significant associations of time reallocations for wake time after sleep onset, length of awakenings, and sleep quality. These results improve our understanding of the interrelationships between different intensities of movement behaviours and several aspects of sleep in older adults.

That's My Cue to Eat: A Systematic Review of the Persuasiveness of Front-of-Pack Cues on Food Packages for Children vs. Adults.

Packaging is increasingly recognized as an essential component of any marketing strategy. Visual and informational front-of-pack cues constitute salient elements of the environment that may influence what and how much someone eats. Considering their overwhelming presence on packaging of non-core foods, front-of-pack cues may contribute to the growing rates of overweight and obesity in children and adults. We conducted a systematic review to summarize the evidence concerning the impact of front-of-pack cues on choices and eating behaviors. Four electronic databases were searched for experimental studies (2009-present). This resulted in the inclusion of 57 studies (in 43 articles). We identified studies on children (3-12 years) and adults (≥ 18 years), but no studies on adolescents (12-18 years). The results suggest that children and adults are susceptible to packaging cues, with most evidence supporting the impact of visual cues. More specifically, children more often choose products with a licensed endorser and eat more from packages portraying the product with an exaggerated portion size. Adults' eating behaviors are influenced by a range of other visual cues, mainly, package size and shape, and less so by informational cues such as labels.

Leading together towards a stronger 'us': An experimental test of the effectiveness of the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) in basketball teams.

OBJECTIVES: Leadership has been suggested to be a key factor in gaining a competitive advantage as a team, with shared leadership being a better predictor of team functioning than vertical leadership. Although the benefits of shared leadership are well-documented, evidence about how to implement a shared leadership structure remains sparse. This leaves coaches with three key challenges: (1) identifying the best leaders; (2) defining what roles those leaders should fulfill; and (3) developing their leadership skills. Solutions to these challenges have been proposed in the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) - a leadership development program that seeks to implement an effective structure of shared leadership within sports teams. DESIGN: To test the effectiveness of 5RS program, we conducted an experimental-comparison group intervention in which eight national-level basketball teams (N = 96) completed a questionnaire at two points in time (i.e., pre- and posttest). The teams in the intervention condition completed the 5RS program, in which we identified the leadership structure in their teams (through Shared Leadership Mapping), appointed the best leaders in their leadership role, and then developed their identity leadership skills. RESULTS: The results revealed that the 5RS program was successful in strengthening athlete leaders' identity leadership skills, and as a result also team members' identification with their team. Furthermore, in contrast to athletes in the comparison condition, athletes in the 5RS condition were able to maintain their levels of intrinsic motivation and commitment to team goals, while also reporting improved well-being. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides encouraging evidence that, by implementing a structure of shared leadership and by promoting athlete leaders' identity leadership skills, the 5RS program is able to improve the team's functioning and the well-being of its members.

Why the Chosen Ones May Not Always Be the Best Leaders: Criteria for Captain Selection as Predictors of Leadership Quality and Acceptance.

There seems to be some initial evidence that team captains are selected based on non-leadership factors such as team tenure, technical abilities, being the daughter of the club president, or playing position. This is concerning since players expect their ideal team captain to have superior motivational and social skills. Adding to this literature on captain selection, the present study investigates relationships between the reasons for which team captains are selected and their (a) perceived leadership quality; and (b) perceived acceptance. To accomplish this, we recruited 450 coaches and 198 players from Flemish football and volleyball teams. Participants evaluated 41 reasons on the extent to which they played a role in the selection of their team captain. Additionally, participants rated their team captain's leadership quality and level of acceptance. The results consistently indicated that captains who were selected for having good motivational and social competencies were given higher ratings on perceived leadership quality and acceptance by participants. In conclusion, athletes who are motivated, good at motivating others and have superior social skills tend to be better suited for captaincy than those selected based on non-leadership factors.

Making 'us' better: High-quality athlete leadership relates to health and burnout in professional Australian football teams.

Overtraining, exhaustion, and burnout are widely recognized problems amongst elite athletes. The present research addresses this issue by exploring the extent to which high-quality athlete leadership is associated with elite athletes' health and burnout. Participants (120 male athletes from three top-division Australian football teams) were asked to rate the quality of each of their teammates in four different leadership roles (i.e. as task and motivational leaders on the field and as social and external leaders off the field), and also to indicate their identification with their team as well as their self-reported health and burnout. Findings indicated that (a) being seen to be a good athlete leader by other members of the team and (b) having a good athlete leader on the team were both positively associated with better team member health and lower burnout. This relationship was mediated by athletes' identification with their team, suggesting that leaders enhance athletes' health and reduce athlete burnout by creating and maintaining a sense of shared identity in their team. This, in turn, suggests that coaches can foster an optimal team environment by developing the leadership potential of their athlete leaders - in particular, their skills that foster a sense of shared team identification. This is in the interests not only of team performance but also of team members' health and burnout.

Standing out from the crowd: Identifying the traits and behaviors that characterize high-quality athlete leaders.

OBJECTIVES: An emerging body of evidence indicates that, in addition to the coach, athlete leaders within a team are vital for a sports team's success. Sports teams are therefore keen to know which attributes are distinctly characteristic of high-quality leaders on and off the field. The present study aims to shed more light on this question. METHOD: A wide variety of traits and leadership behaviors was assessed in a sample of 776 athletes, stratified across gender, competitive level, and four sports. The leadership quality of each of the athletes (ie, as task, motivational, social, and external leader) was determined on the basis of the perceptions of teammates using social network analysis. RESULTS: Findings revealed that leadership behaviors outweighed personality traits in distinguishing high-quality leaders from others on and off the field. Providing identity leadership that creates, embodies, advances, and embeds a collective sense of "us" in their teams was found to be a particularly important leadership behavior that characterized high-quality leaders both on and off the field. CONCLUSION: The fact that leadership behaviors were important predictors of high-quality athlete leadership (and more important predictors than traits) suggests that leaders are not just born, but can also be made. Our findings therefore highlight the clear need for leadership development programs to target the behaviors that we identified as important predictors of leadership.

Unpicking the Emperor's New Clothes: Perceived Attributes of the Captain in Sports Teams.

Much importance has been assigned to the role of the team captain. In this article, we test whether today's team captains live up to these high expectations. Furthermore, we provide greater insight into the selection procedures leading to a captain's appointment and assess how this process impacts upon the captain's perceived leadership qualities. Adopting a mixed methods design, a total of 398 participants (226 players and 172 coaches) listed the attributes of both their current team captain and their ideal captain. Altogether, participants listed 635 attributes for their current team captain and 919 attributes for their ideal team captain. Both inductive and deductive approaches were used to analyze these qualitative data. Furthermore, quantitative data were obtained on the perceived influencers in the captain's selection process. The results indicated that, although players and coaches expect their team captains to have good motivational and social leadership skills, the selection process is often underpinned by non-leadership factors, such as experience, sport-specific competence, or irrelevant attributes, such as being the daughter of the club president. This discrepancy held for both coaches' and players' perspectives, for male and female teams, across sports, and across competition levels. Although coaches were identified as main influencers in the selection process, giving players the deciding vote did not result in captains with better perceived leadership skills. The significant gap between participants' expectations of the captain and reality highlights the need for implementing a structure of shared leadership. Furthermore, evidence-based leadership development programs are needed to maximize the team's leadership potential.

Equity-Specific Effects of Interventions to Promote Physical Activity among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Development of a Collaborative Equity-Specific Re-Analysis Strategy.

Reducing social inequalities in physical activity (PA) has become a priority for public health. However, evidence concerning the impact of interventions on inequalities in PA is scarce. This study aims to develop and test the application of a strategy for re-analyzing equity-specific effects of existing PA intervention studies in middle-aged and older adults, as part of an international interdisciplinary collaboration. This article aims to describe (1) the establishment and characteristics of the collaboration; and (2) the jointly developed equity-specific re-analysis strategy as a first result of the collaboration. To develop the strategy, a collaboration based on a convenience sample of eight published studies of individual-level PA interventions among the general population of adults aged ≥45 years was initiated (UK, n = 3; The Netherlands, n = 3; Belgium, n = 1; Germany, n = 1). Researchers from these studies participated in a workshop and subsequent e-mail correspondence. The developed strategy will be used to investigate social inequalities in intervention adherence, dropout, and efficacy. This will allow for a comprehensive assessment of social inequalities within intervention benefits. The application of the strategy within and beyond the collaboration will help to extend the limited evidence regarding the effects of interventions on social inequalities in PA among middle-aged and older adults.

Can a framed intervention motivate older adults in assisted living facilities to exercise?

BACKGROUND: The majority of institutionalized older adults do not exercise, despite the many health benefits. The current study investigated whether a framed intervention can motivate older adults in assisted living facilities (ALFs) to perform functional resistance exercises. It was hypothesized that repeated framing of these exercises from a prevention perspective (e.g., to avoid health deterioration) would nurture the development of controlled motivation to exercise. By contrast, repeated framing of the exercises from a promotion perspective (e.g., to improve health) was expected to lead to higher exercise frequencies over time and to foster the development of autonomous motivation. Autonomous motivation was hypothesized to predict higher exercise frequencies over time. METHODS: A total of 111 residents, aged 65+ years (M = 81.4 y; SD = 6.4 y) participated in the study. These participants received a printed three-week individual program with a standard session of eight functional resistance exercises. Four weekly sessions were recommended. Participants were semi-randomized into three framing conditions: neutral (i.e., control), prevention or promotion. They received condition-specific written and spoken messages about the exercises at the beginning of the intervention. The spoken messages were repeated at the end of each week. Participants kept a checklist with their weekly exercise frequency and at corresponding points in time, they completed a questionnaire about their levels of autonomous and controlled motivation to exercise. RESULTS: Across conditions and time points, the exercise frequencies and the levels of autonomous motivation were generally high, whereas the levels of controlled motivation were generally low. Contrary to the expectations, there were no significant framing effects. However, higher levels of autonomous motivation predicted higher exercise frequencies. During the final exercise week, this was especially the case for intrinsic regulation (i.e., for the sake of the activity). CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that older adults who live in ALFs can be motivated to perform functional resistance exercises. Given the importance of intrinsic regulation, we advise to create an exercise atmosphere that allows for immediate, positive experiences and in which the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are satisfied. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrialsID NCT02780037 (23 February 2016).