Social predictors of daily relations between college women’s physical activity intentions and behavior

Leah M. Schumacher; Coco Thomas; M. Cole Ainsworth; Danielle Arigo

doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-020-00166-x

Social predictors of daily relations between college women’s physical activity intentions and behavior

Leah M. Schumacher, Coco Thomas, M. Cole Ainsworth, Danielle Arigo

Psychology

Rowan University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Women perform less physical activity (PA) than men, and this gap widens during college. This study examined college women’s daily PA intentions and behavior, and whether social support or social comparison orientation (SCO) moderated the PA intention-behavior relation. College women (N = 80) completed measures of social support and SCO at baseline. For seven consecutive days, participants completed an electronic survey to assess PA intentions and wore an activity monitor to assess minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA). Results indicated that intended and performed MVPA minutes were weakly related (p = 0.17, sr = 0.16). Social support did not moderate the intention-behavior relation, but SCO did (p = 0.04, sr = 0.21). Participants with stronger (vs. weaker) SCO, particularly a tendency to compare downward (i.e., to worse-off others), showed smaller discrepancies between intended and completed MVPA. College women frequently fail to achieve PA goals, but stronger tendencies to make (downward) social comparisons may minimize this gap and be a target for intervention.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	270-276
Number of pages	7
Journal	Journal of behavioral medicine
Volume	44
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-020-00166-x
State	Published - Apr 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Psychology(all)
Psychiatry and Mental health

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title = "Social predictors of daily relations between college women{\textquoteright}s physical activity intentions and behavior",

abstract = "Women perform less physical activity (PA) than men, and this gap widens during college. This study examined college women{\textquoteright}s daily PA intentions and behavior, and whether social support or social comparison orientation (SCO) moderated the PA intention-behavior relation. College women (N = 80) completed measures of social support and SCO at baseline. For seven consecutive days, participants completed an electronic survey to assess PA intentions and wore an activity monitor to assess minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA). Results indicated that intended and performed MVPA minutes were weakly related (p = 0.17, sr = 0.16). Social support did not moderate the intention-behavior relation, but SCO did (p = 0.04, sr = 0.21). Participants with stronger (vs. weaker) SCO, particularly a tendency to compare downward (i.e., to worse-off others), showed smaller discrepancies between intended and completed MVPA. College women frequently fail to achieve PA goals, but stronger tendencies to make (downward) social comparisons may minimize this gap and be a target for intervention.",

author = "Schumacher, {Leah M.} and Coco Thomas and Ainsworth, {M. Cole} and Danielle Arigo",

note = "Funding Information: Data collection for this study was funded by internal resources at the last author{\textquoteright}s institution. Preparation of this manuscript was supported by T32 HL076134 (Schumacher) and K23 HL136657 (Danielle Arigo). Funding Information: Drs. Schumacher and Arigo receive funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Schumacher: T32 HL076134; Arigo: K23 HL136657). The authors declare that they have no other conflict of interest. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.",

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N1 - Funding Information: Data collection for this study was funded by internal resources at the last author’s institution. Preparation of this manuscript was supported by T32 HL076134 (Schumacher) and K23 HL136657 (Danielle Arigo). Funding Information: Drs. Schumacher and Arigo receive funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Schumacher: T32 HL076134; Arigo: K23 HL136657). The authors declare that they have no other conflict of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

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N2 - Women perform less physical activity (PA) than men, and this gap widens during college. This study examined college women’s daily PA intentions and behavior, and whether social support or social comparison orientation (SCO) moderated the PA intention-behavior relation. College women (N = 80) completed measures of social support and SCO at baseline. For seven consecutive days, participants completed an electronic survey to assess PA intentions and wore an activity monitor to assess minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA). Results indicated that intended and performed MVPA minutes were weakly related (p = 0.17, sr = 0.16). Social support did not moderate the intention-behavior relation, but SCO did (p = 0.04, sr = 0.21). Participants with stronger (vs. weaker) SCO, particularly a tendency to compare downward (i.e., to worse-off others), showed smaller discrepancies between intended and completed MVPA. College women frequently fail to achieve PA goals, but stronger tendencies to make (downward) social comparisons may minimize this gap and be a target for intervention.

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Social predictors of daily relations between college women’s physical activity intentions and behavior

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