Comparison of barriers self-efficacy and perceived behavioral control for explaining physical activity across 1 year among adolescent girls.

The absence of longitudinal data about correlates of physical activity during adolescence has hindered the identification of key mediator variables that can be targeted by interventions. Building on the authors' previous report of a cross-sectional analysis, this study compared barriers self-efficacy and perceived behavioral control as predictors of change in 2 levels of physical activity across a 1-year period among a sample of Black and White adolescent girls (N=1,038). Self-efficacy did not predict change in either moderate or vigorous physical activity. In contrast, perceived behavioral control exhibited a longitudinal, independent relationship with change in vigorous physical activity. The authors concluded that perceived behavioral control is an independent predictor of change in vigorous physical activity levels across a 1-year period among a sample of Black and White adolescent girls and warrants study as a potential mediator variable in interventions designed to increase or maintain physical activity.     

Whose Resistance is it Anyway?

In considering the three papers that are unified under the umbrella of how to think about the concept of “resistance” in contemporary psychoanalysis, it is through my lens as a developmental psychoanalyst that their discussion unfolds. The papers, each from a different theoretical position, can be considered together if one looks at them from the perspective of the evolution of Self and how it plays out in the clinical exchange with psychoanalysts of different theoretical persuasions. Each of the authors presents a point of view that has resonance with aspects of what facilitates and what interferes in the development of Self. The forces and counter-forces in treatment mirror those forces in development. This paper was first presented at the Spring meeting of the Division of Psychoanalysis in 2014 in New York City as part of a panel entitled: “If it is Not Resistance, What is it?”