What older adolescents expect from physical activity: Implicit cognitions regarding health and appearance outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To explore older adolescents' reflective and impulsive thoughts about health- and social/appearance-related physical activity (PA) outcomes and investigate how those thoughts relate to their PA behavior. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and forty-four undergraduate students (109 women; 35 men) aged 17-19 years (M = 18.11, SD = 0.65) participated in this study in October 2015. METHODS: Participants completed a Go/No-go Association Task that assessed automaticity of associations between PA words and either health outcomes or social/appearance outcomes. Questionnaires assessing PA behavior, attitudes, outcome expectations, and body image were also completed. RESULTS: Participants demonstrated a positive automatic association between PA and social/appearance outcomes, F(1, 136) = 4.403, p < .05, η2 = .031, but they showed no difference in their associations between PA and desirable or undesirable health outcomes, F(1, 136) = 2.405, p = .123, η2 = .017. CONCLUSIONS: Older adolescents implicitly attend to the social/appearance outcomes of PA more than potential health outcomes, indicating that social recognition and a desirable physique may be the key PA motivators for adolescents.

Evidence for a multidimensional self-efficacy for exercise scale.

This series of three studies considers the multidimensionality of exercise self-efficacy by examining the psychometric characteristics of an instrument designed to assess three behavioral subdomains: task, scheduling, and coping. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis revealed the expected factor structure in a sample of 395 students. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed these results in a second sample of 282 students. In Study 2, the generalizability of the factor structure was confirmed with CFA in a randomly selected sample of 470 community adults, and discriminant validity was supported by theoretically consistent distinctions among exercisers and nonexercisers. In Study 3, change in self-efficacy in conjunction with adoption of novel exercise was examined in a sample of 58 women over 12 weeks. Observed changes in the three self-efficacy domains appeared to be relatively independent. Together, the three studies support a multidimensional conceptualization of exercise self-efficacy that can be assessed and appears to be sensitive to change in exercise behavior.

Distinguishing among perceived control, perceived difficulty, and self-efficacy as determinants of intentions and behaviours.

Perceptions of control hold a dominant position in social cognitive theories yet there is a lack of conceptual and empirical clarity regarding what kind of control is most associated with particular behaviours. Three prominent types of control are perceived control (PC), perceived difficulty (PD), and perceived confidence or self-efficacy (SE) for performing the desired behaviour. Three studies are presented with a primary goal of distinguishing PC, PD, and SE from each other, and a secondary goal of determining which of the three is the superior predictor of health-related intentions and behaviours. The first study replicates earlier work by Trafimow et al. (2002) distinguishing the three constructs for reading 1, 30, and 100 pages, and extends it to exercising one, two, four, and six times per week and also to predicting intentions to exercise 4 days per week and behaviour 1 week later. The second study examines the predictive capability of the three constructs for intentions to floss one's teeth everyday and to eat 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday and subsequently on behaviour assessed 7 days later. The third study reports a meta-analysis of the relative influence of PC, PD, and SE on behaviours when defined in conceptually consistent ways. The results of all three studies support the conceptual and empirical distinction of PC, PD, and SE and the superiority of SE as a predictor of health behaviours and intentions.

Prediction of obligatory exercise by exercise-related imagery.

Obligatory exercise is a compulsive behavior pattern in which exercise dominates daily life at the expense of other activities and lack of exercise produces withdrawal symptoms. This study examined the hypothesis that obligatory exercise is motivated similarly to eating disorders (cf. S. P. Coen & B. M. Ogles, 1993) and would be predicted by appearance-related imagery. Obligatory exercise (J. K. Thompson & L. Pasman, 1991) and exercise imagery (H. A. Hausenblas, C. R. Hall, W. M. Rodgers, & K. J. Munroe, 1999) were assessed before and after a 10-week exercise program in 243 adult exercisers. Regression analyses revealed that imagery accounted for 20% of the variance in obligatory exercise. Appearance-related imagery did not predict significantly obligatory exercise. Energy-related imagery was the strongest predictor. Obligatory exercise may not be as associated with appearance-related concerns as eating disorders, suggesting different motivational bases for these 2 behavioral patterns.

Feeling state responses to acute exercise of high and low intensity.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of exercise intensity on feeling states following two acute bouts of exercise (i.e., 50% and 80% of age-predicted maximal heart rate reserve: HRR) in highly fit and unfit females. It was hypothesized that highly fit females would have increased positive well-being and/or reduced psychological distress post-exercise (high intensity) compared to unfit females while both groups would experience similar feeling states following moderate intensity exercise. Twelve highly fit and 12 unfit females completed 3 conditions: attention control and fitness test, and two acute bouts of exercise (30 minutes on a bicycle ergometer) at 50% and 80% age-predicted HRR. Pre- and post-exercise feeling states were measured via the Subjective Experiences Exercise Scale (McAuley & Courneya, 1994). Analyses indicated a time x condition x fitness interaction F(2,21)=6.07, p<.01 (eta2 =.37) for psychological distress. Follow-up univariate analyses revealed no change in the 50% or control conditions, however, psychological distress significantly increased for the unfit participants F(1,11)=4.68,p<.05 (eta2 =.29) while there was no change for the highly fit participants F(1,11)=2.14,p>.05 (eta2 =.16) in the 80% intensity condition. No fitness differences emerged with respect to positive well-being or fatigue. Therefore, the present study's results substantiate the need to consider fitness level in dose-response studies, particularly ones which examine negative feeling states.

Examination of the transtheoretical model and exercise in 3 populations.

OBJECTIVE: To examine differences in the processes of change and self-efficacy for exercise across the stages of change in 3 populations to determine its suitability for use in diverse groups. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey design with population as a between-subjects variable: high school students (n = 168), university undergraduate students (n = 215), and employed adults (n = 63). RESULTS: ANOVAs revealed main effects of stage (p < .0001) and population (p < .001) in process use and self-efficacy but no population by stage interaction. CONCLUSIONS: The consistency of patterns of the TTM variables supports its potential for effective intervention in diverse populations.

Catastrophizing, depression and expectancies for pain and emotional distress.

The present research addressed the relation between catastrophizing, depression and response expectancies in anticipation of an experimental pain procedure. One hundred and twenty undergraduates (48 men, 72 women) participated in exchange for course credit. Prior to immersing one arm in a container of ice water, participants were asked to complete measures of catastrophizing and depression, and to estimate the degree of pain and emotional distress they expected to experience. After a 1-min immersion, participants rated their actual experience. Pain expectancies partially mediated the relation between catastrophizing and pain experience. Pain expectancies also mediated the relation between depression and pain experience. Catastrophizing, but not depression, was associated with a tendency to underestimate pain and emotional distress. The implications of these findings for the conceptual distinctiveness of catastrophizing and depression are discussed. Discussion also examines the potential implications of the present findings for pain management interventions.

Learning and remembering strategies of novice and advanced jazz dancers for skill level appropriate dance routines.

This study examined the influence of the challenge level of to-be-learned stimulus on learning strategies in novice and advanced dancers. In Study 1, skill-level appropriate dance routines were developed for novice and advanced jazz dancers. In Study 2, 8 novice and 9 advanced female jazz dancers attempted to learn and remember the two routines in mixed model factorial design, with one between-participants factor: skill level (novice or advanced) and two within-participants factors: routine (easy or difficult) and performance (immediate or delayed). Participants were interviewed regarding the strategies used to learn and remember the routines. Results indicated that advanced performers used atypical learning strategies for insufficiently challenging stimuli, which may reflect characteristics of the stimuli rather than the performer. The qualitative data indicate a clear preference of novice and advanced performers for spatial compatibility of stimuli and response.