Concurrent Management of Exercise and Other Valued Life Goals: A Focus on Self-Regulatory Efficacy

Download or read book Concurrent Management of Exercise and Other Valued Life Goals: A Focus on Self-Regulatory Efficacy written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While being physically active is an important and valued goal for many individuals, family, work, school, and friends are also valued aspects of their lives. Many social cognitive theories examine health behaviours in isolation, without taking into consideration the context, or life circumstances, in which people seek to achieve such health behaviours. Examining a single goal-directed behaviour without acknowledging the possible influence of other concurrent goals managed by an individual may oversimplify the self-regulation needed in daily life. The overarching purpose of this dissertation was to examine exercise behaviour in the context of concurrently held, valued non-exercise activities (e.g., academics, family). Relationships between valued non-exercise goals, concurrent self-regulatory efficacy, and physical activity behaviour were explored. Social cognitive theory provided the theoretical framework for the three studies conducted. Study 1 sought to discriminate university students whose physical activity level was either commensurate or not with achieving health benefits using social-cognitive predictors. These predictors took into account participants beliefs about the concurrent management of physical activity with other valued non-exercise goals. Results indicated that concurrent self-regulatory efficacy (belief in abilities to self-regulate the management of multiple goals including exercise) discriminated those active enough to achieve health benefits from those who were not active enough. Study 2 used a prospective design to explore potential mechanisms that allow individuals to successfully self-regulate exercise behaviour with other goals during hectic times. Undergraduate students were observed during a 4-week examination period where they faced greater than usual challenges to exercising regularly. Concurrent self-regulatory efficacy was identified as a partial mediator of the relationship between value of an exercise goal and future exercise behavi.